The Baltic Chain Tour kicks off in Tallinn, Estonia: the prologue features two cobbled sectors and it will be interesting to see, whether a pure TT horse like Cornu or a pure cobbler like Burghardt will stand a chance against a perfectly allrounded Wisniowski or Cavendish today.
Vermote is one of those riders, who come with solid skills on both cobbles and prologues. He's setting an early best time and already went clearly faster than some more notable names:
Turgot + 6" Venturini + 7" Thomas + 9" Oba + 13"
Matthews as another polyvalent rider, who did well on the first sector (2 seconds off Vermote) and who goes for quite a good time at the finish:
+ 6" as provisional 2nd ahead of Turgot
Puccio as one of the pure cobblers now. He's setting a new (narrow) best time at the first split (the cobbled sector), but will he hold on with pure prologue skills not exactly as his strength?
+ 9" at the finish and therefore losing almost ten seconds on Vermote on the remaining course
Marcos now the fastest on the first cobbled sector, but just like the riders before, he lost some seconds until the finish:
+ 4" as still a strong provisional 2nd
Wisniowski on the road now - clearly one of the big favorites for the stage. He's - rather surprisingly - a second slower than Marcos at the split, but his prologue skills should come into play now:
+ 1" to finish narrowly behind Vermote, who definitely had a great ride today
Zaraliev + 8" Ngandamba + 9" Paillot + 13"
Sibilla the next top cobbler, who usually can't do prologues at all. A tied lead at the first split:
+ 9" at the finish though, clearly suffering in the timetrial sector
Kamyshev with the same problems then - third best at the split:
+ 9" at the finish, closely ahead Sibilla
Mørkøv goes 10th at the split and does rather well on the second sector then:
+ 7" as provisional 7th at the finish
Marcos, Sibilla and Kamyshev had been the fastest riders on the first cobbled sector, but Vermote leads the provisional rankings at the finish with a narrow gap on Wisniowski and Marcos holding on to a 3rd place so far.
Kulppi next - amongst the best on the cobbles sector, but also missing out on Vermote's best time eventually:
+ 8" as provisional 9th behind Venturini and
Le Montagner, who goes + 7" at the finish for a rather surprising provisional 6th
Harrison approaching the finish after being 3 seconds off Sibilla/Marcos at the split:
+ 8" at the finish, narrowly finishing behind his teammate and virtual U25 leader Venturini
Daniel goes for a tied lead at the split and will probably lose on the timetrial sector:
+ 5" for quite a strong provisional 4th at the finish though
Bush + 8" Bakari + 8" (and with a new best time at the split)
Burghardt as fast as Bakari on the first cobbles sector - narrowly faster than Sibilla/Marcos/Kamyshev:
+ 6" at the finish, provisional 6th
Kwok + 12" Eeckhout + 13" Li + 13"
Cornu now and with his somewhat decent cobbles skills, he might fancy his chances for the stage-win after going 4 seconds off the best time at the split:
+ 5" at the finish though! Losing a further second as provisional 3rd
Van Asbroeck as one of the GC favorites now and he's been 2 seconds off the best time at the split. This could be a first step towards his high GC ambitiouns:
+ 7" at the finish as provisional 9th - not a bad start
Rowe with similar hopes and he's also just two seconds off at the split:
+ 5" at the finish to go ahead of Matthews/Burghardt as provisional 5th
Cavendish as the last rider on the road and he certainly comes with a great skillset to deliver today. He's 2 seconds off the best time at the split:
+ 2" at the finish as 3rd today! A good ride, but Vermote beat them all. Quite a surprise for sure.
Burghardt, Bakari, Sibilla and Marcos as the fastest on the first cobbled sector. Also Wisniowski narrowly ahead of Vermote then. A few more pure cobblers amongst the best, as to be expected.
Some significant changes at the finish though: Vermote today's best with Wisniowski and Cavendish going up to the podium. Cornu went for 6th as the best pure TT specialist.
Vermote with a huge start into the race, obviously. Leading the GC for at least a day - as well as the points classification. As listed above, quite some sprinters within striking distance tomorrow. Of course Cavendish as the biggest threat for yellow now, but also Rowe and Van Asbroeck gained some crucial seconds already.
