Yesterdays double Alpe d'Huez saw some changes in the late top10 with Sicard heavily struggling after two days of steady attacking! He dropped to 9th in the GC being passed by Wellens and Lecuisinier. Those 3 are pretty close together in a 3 min range and hence are some of todays spots to be viewed.
The even more interesting fight though is for the podium. Schleck as 1'48 advantage over Dombrowski. This should be enough. Question is if Taaramae at 2'41 can get into the 1-2 areas. Spilak at 4'25 pretty much isolated just like Phinney at 8'13. Those two and last in especially is more aiming the stage win really just like Kritskiy next.
Then Arndt in 10th as one of the worst time trialists but having three and a half minutes gap to Henao Montoya and another half to Keizer as one of the best time trialists. So attacking the top10 will be difficult.
We start with Malori who was best finisher so far beating the previous times of Hepburn, Vorobev, Christensen, Howson etc.
But on a 20th day next to pure TT skills also recovery plays a huge role and hence this time is nothing but a secured top time.
Surprisingly Ignatiev and Sergent weren`t able to get close to this time and were ~30s off minimum.
And also Coppel, winner of the opening prologue is just beating it by 5s at the first split. He should be the favourite against Malori today but then again the French worked a lot this Tour for Spilak and also joined couple of breakaways.
And hence a rider that was pretty anonymous all race so far equals the time at half time. Koren might have recovered slightly better and hence starts nicely.
Though he fades and in the finish it`s still Malori, then Coppel at +3 and Koren +10. So first surprise, slightly at least, that Coppel won`t win the stage. Bigger surprise really that Malori beats him.
Even bigger surprise a few moments later. Cataford might mainly test the route for Phinney here but he goes full gas and takes the lead at half time. But just like previous two he is fading towards the end finishing s.t. as Koren in 4th. Still a strong ride.
Next Boom. He had a very good first week and then did hide himself quite a lot in the peloton and gruppettos. The energy saved his seen today. Brilliant ride and he is the first rider to beat Malori also in the finish and not just on the road. 44s faster!
Couple seconds later Dees also with a decent ride going into 3rd, +2 to Malori.
Keizer on the road and today the KoM jersey is his very own.
He also is one of todays top favourites but has surely spent a lot of energy the last few days on his KoM hunt. That said he is 12th in the GC and still has small chances for a top10. so he is going strong today. 2nd at the first split being 1s slower as team mate Boom only.
And also Goos still seems to look at the top10 as he is just 30s further away. At the first split he is +6 and in 3rd position hence not gaining on Keizer, which wasn`t expected really anyway.
Then Sicard, who surely can defend the top10 spot but being 9th might be 1-2 spots lower as he wanted due to yesterdays crucial loss. He starts fast being 1st by 1s at the early split.
And you see it behind. Arndt is struggling already. Not even half time and passed by Sicard and this means also losing ~2min already on direct rivals Keizer or Goos.
Lecuisinier +14 and Wellens +46 within their range. But seeing the gap already, it`s very likely that Lecuisinier will go past him in the GC and U25 ranking!
Kritskiy +16 doing well but now Phinney starting his stage goal.
He is pure class and shows it today. Going into the lead early on by crashing the time table. -39 in comparison to Sicard!
Spilak another top rider today and he goes in 2nd at this point. +22 only being on podium attack?
Taaramäe on +35 so losing on Spilak. But not enough to really be in danger so far.
Dombrowski though in huge danger. +1'31 already early on. This means he has lost the 2nd to Taaramae and if it continues like this even Spilak might go past him!
And surprisingly also Schleck going rather slow. He is no top TT rider and surely was expected to lose a bit of time. But today is a weak performance really being just 10s faster than Dombrowski and 1min slower than Spilak! Is he too sure about his win? Maybe a chance for Taaramae to do the impossible?
Meanwhile Keizer, who was 6th in total at the first split has passed the next split and went fastest even beating a struggling Sicard now and actually having passed Arndt virtually!
Phinney on a mission today and that`s dominating the stage. No one can challenge him and one of the best time trialists in Kritskiy is just being passed by the US rider. Just wow!
He is 51s faster than Spilak at the 2nd point. 1'07 to Taaramae. 1'16 to Keizer and another 3s to Boom. Kritskiy actually still was inside the top10 riders so far which makes Phinney`s ride even more impressive.
Schleck for now still in the lead but Dombrowski seems to drop to 4th indeed!
2'32 to Phinney the loss of Schleck at this point. This means ~1'20 to Taaramae which is half of his advantage.
Dombrowski almost 3min behind Phinney, which means he has just about 30s left to defend the podium against Spilak! Close one and still 11km to go from now on.
Keizer in with a new best. Then Sicard being only +8 and Boom +15.
Goos +30, Lecuisinier +39, Abal +54. So not the biggest gaps there but then we have Arndt and the poor German is losing 5'55 today being one of the very last of the day!
He is dropping behind Keizer, behind Goos and even behind Henao Montoya by couple of seconds...worst possible scenario for him really. He will end the race as 13th in the GC which is still pretty solid while his former leader Nerz is ending in 16th behind Abal and Faiers and ahead of the puncheur trio Ponzi, Bakelants and LLS. So not a top10 but still solid performances by the Puma GC duo. That said losing it this way in a TT that late is tough.
Who still thinks Phinney isn`t winning the stage, hasn`t read until now. He is smashing it. Only Keizer, Sicard and Boom are within 2min and wouldn`t have been passed by him. Though only just as Keizer is at +1'44.
Actually this ITT today might deliver Phinney the point jersey as well!
Spilak though continues his runner-up status today and comes in as 2nd being 1'14 off. Pretty good time and the question is if he was able to pass Dombrowski.
But first Taaramäe, who definitely is. Coming in as 3rd at 1'34 and here the question if he was even able to attack Andy Schleck!
The first question can be answered now as Dombrowski comes in as 36th being 4'01 behind.
Quick calculation and he is 11s BEHIND Spilak. Poor boy dropping from 2nd to 4th today missing out on the podium in Paris but you have seen it once more in this Tour de France. This guy can climb and he surely can win the race one day.
Schleck coming into the finish answers the second question. No. Despite finishing 23rd only and 3'31 behind Phinney, it`s enough to hold off Taaramae. It was a lot closer than he might have hoped before the stage but still 43s. About the time he just gained yesterday by going for the win on Alpe d'Huez. Well done Andy for bringing the Maillot Jaune to Paris.
