Certainly the most important stage, today's long time trial will totally change the GC top 10 as we know it, and tell us in advance who can win the race and who can't. It's well-known that the route presents some slopes throughout its course, but my guess is that they won't be of too much influence, based on the past years.
The main favourite is of course Yatsevich, and barring surprises he should be today's winner considering past performances, but keep an eye on the likes of Tennant, Steensen and Navardauskas, that are slightly better climbers compared to the Russian.
A first, actually interesting time, is set by one of today's favourites Griffith. The American, already way out of contention for a good GC place because of the gap he accumulated yesterday, sets his time stopping the clock after 52 minutes and 57 seconds.
Taciak has a good day to finish just 29" off Griffith's time.
Krasnoperov is also really close to Griffith's time, but he has to settle for 2nd.
The Ukrainian only finishes 3 seconds ahead of Taciak, while Griffith breathes a sigh of relief after the Ukrainian was a lot closer after the first two checkpoints. Not an excellent energy management clearly.
Puerta Zapata closes off his day with a solid time: he's 4th in 53'35".
Not even him however, 3'46" behind in the GC, can aim to a good ranking in the General Classification, so we'll have to wait a fair few more riders to see someone who can actually contend a top 10 overall.
It's however Tzortzakis really scaring Griffith now! The Greek manages an astounding performance, especially as his race went by.
The Greek kept getting closer to the current leader throughout the 3 time checks, until he just crossed the line in 53', so simply 3 seconds off Griffith's time.
Pauwels also finishes off with a great time: he will provisionally sit in 3rd place after he managed to only lose 20 seconds from Griffith, throughout today's 35 kms.
Today's TT certainly has a hilly component and it does show! De Luna, similarly to Tzortzakis, kept approaching the leading time throughout the 3 time checks, until he had to finally settle for a 3rd place, just 1 second behind the Greek.
Würtz was quite consistent today throughout the 3 time checks, and eventually calls it a day in 53'14", 3 seconds faster than Pauwels, meaning he's 4th for the moment.
Bøchman is the first of the GC contenders to set a good time, being just a second slower than Krasnoperov. He could aim to an overall top 10 after this, but it's going to be hard.
Meanwhile, Yatsevich is showing he's on a completely different level compared to the rest of the riders that took off up to now, not only setting a time 22" faster than everyone else in the first checkpoint, but then going ahead and taking the gap to almost 1 minute when it's time for the 2nd one.
All of a sudden it starts raining, but it's just some light drizzle that shouldn't affect the race too much, especially since at the same time the wind also starts to go down in intensity. Yatsevich crosses the line just in time to remain nearly unaffected, and his time is also as good as expected.
With 51'40" and 1'17" on Griffith, he's by far the new leader and it will be nearly impossible to even get close to this time, but we'll have to wait.
Grivko should be satisfied about his performance. He sits in 5th for now with 23 riders still to come, and his distance from Yatsevich - 1 minute and 25 seconds - is not too outrageous, considering he can make it up in the next few stages if he's strong and lucky enough.
Tennant seems to be the only one so far capable to even near Yatsevich's performance, as he's only 15 seconds behind him after the second time check with 10 kms to go.
Walker concludes his time trial with a surprisingly good time: he's not in the top 10, but damn close as he goes to settle in 11th place, 1'51" behind Yatsevich.
Another performance that could give the rider hope of an overall top 10.
Kasa is just as impressive though, as he pulls a nice hat trick, finishing with the same time as Tzortzakis just 1'19" behind Yatsevich, so in 3rd place.
I'm sure Tennant will be really happy about his time trial today: it's not easy to just lose 21 seconds from someone like Yatsevich over the course of 35 kms, and with only Steensen and Navardauskas left having a chance to improve his time, he has a high chance of keeping his 2nd place for the rest of the day.
In fact, both are behind him after the first 10 kms.
It finally stops raining as it's time for Popkov to cross the line in 8th, 1'27" behind Yatsevich.
Not a bad performance at all in his case, either! The conditions are now almost ideal, with no rain falling on the race and the wind being literally absent.
Who would have thought Thill would be this good today?! The Luxembourg rider didn't benefit from these conditions more than that much, and yet he manages an incredible 3rd place for the moment! Lobauer's captain for the race is just 1'12" behind, so 4 seconds ahead of Griffith. He could hope to be top 5 at the end of the day.
Steensen is not letting anyone down for now, as he holds a 3rd place ahead of Thill after the 2nd checkpoint, just 23 seconds behind Yatsevich.
Not a bad showing from Mygind either, who closes in 12th after a well managed race. He's therefore above his teammate Bøchman for a mere 5 seconds, and Steensen and De Maar are yet to cross the line, so quite a good day for Carlsberg GC hopes.
Navardauskas is 29" off the leading time, when only Diggle and the leader Gonzalez Cortes need to get past the 10 kms to go time check.
Steensen follows and crosses the line in 52'12", a great time that allows him to stand on the provisional podium for the moment, and likely for the rest of the day.
De Maar is the last Carlsberg rider for today, so they'll hopefully make room for other teams to steal the show! The only pro cyclist in Curaçao is clearly not nearly as good as Steensen, but in itself, his performance was certainly above most people's expectations, as he goes on to set the same time as Kasa and Tzortzakis in a provisional 7th place.
Diggle and Gonzalez Cortes also reach the 2nd checkpoint, and while the former probably has to say goodbye to a top 10 with his current 22nd place, the latter is still very much in contention for a podium thanks to his current 5th place, 22" behind Navardauskas that precedes him for the moment.
Navardauskas doesn't succeed in his goal of keeping Steensen behind him in the virtual GC, but he's still a great 4th, only 8" off the Dane's time.
Diggle after him crosses the line in 53'39", so not nearly as bad as it could have gone, indeed, it's actually quite a lot better than most predicted. The Australian is 21st for now - which eventually will probably be 22nd after all, and still has a shot at the top 10.
Gonzalez Cortes keeps his 5th place after the finish line as well, with a gap of 1'08" from Yatsevich, who is now sure of both taking the stage and snatching the jersey too. Seeing how others performed, this is as good as it could have gone for the Costa Rican really.
The situation is the one you see below then! Yatsevich, Tennant and Steensen step on the podium, while Navardauskas and Gonzalez Cortes slip in 4th and 5th, but the race is still very much open with 2 unpredictable stages to come!