The 11km long mountain timetrial up the famous Mt Fuji - a truly challenging day and obviously a key day for all GC contenders. The slopes are steep and the best climbers need to gain back time on the two best puncheurs so far:
Ignatiev and Kinoshita with both a stage-win and some impressive performances so far. They are likely to drop in the GC though, as premium climbers like Kwiatkowski, Sicard, Denifl, Roche, Cataldo and Kudus ain't too far behind in the GC. Kinoshita as the better climber of the two and there's definitely a chance that he might end up high in the GC today. The gap to other climbers like Shikai or Duarte/Roglic is at two minutes.
Zardini (GC's 45th, + 8.52) crashed out of bigger GC ambitiouns, but he's the best of the earlier starters today:
36'45" for him, beating Cunego by 19 seconds and Jang by 20 seconds!
Quintana (GC's 43rd, + 8.44) as another crash victim, who won't fight for a higher GC result anymore. He's clearly not at his best today - whether it might be from the crash or a bad daily form:
+ 23" on Zardini as provisional 4th behind the already mentioned riders..
Izagirre + 12" and with quite a strong performance as provisional 2nd then Teklehaimanot + 27"
Rodrigues (GC's 24th, + 5.14) as the first promising Top-20 contender then. He's looking extraordinary strong on the climb:
19 seconds faster than Zardini for the provisional best time at the finish!
Sanchez Gil + 1'42" - definitely a bad day for the GC's 15th
Roglic (GC's 14th, + 2.09) aiming to stay in contention for the Top-10 in the GC.. he's looking better than Sanchez Gil, but he's not as good as Rodrigues:
+ 35" as provisional 4th:
Duarte (GC's 13th, + 2.05) next:
+ 17" as new 2nd at the finish - a good effort, but Rodrigues apparently put up a huge performance today!
Shikai (GC's 12th, + 2.04) as Meiji's second big GC option beside Kinoshita.. the Chinese does not disappoint, but just like Duarte, he can't beat Rodrigues:
+ 18" as 3rd so far
Dennis (GC's 11th, + 1.57) not amongst the best climbers, but still with some solid skills on this terrain. His goal might be to stay inside the Top-15:
+ 1'55" at the finish though, which is just enough for a Top-50 on the stage..
Khederi (GC's 10th, + 0.53) as the first "less than a minute on Ignatiev" riders.. he had an impressive day as Kudus' premium helper yesterday and just like Dennis, he may hope to limit the damage:
+ 1'59" to finish a few seconds slower than Dennis though
Palini (GC's 9th, + 0.47) suffering pretty much:
+ 3'27" to finish just outside the Top-125 of the stage...
Kudus (GC's 8th, + 0.45) obviously doing much better, already going past Palini with still 6.6km to the mountaintop:
new best time! 12 seconds faster than Rodridgues!
Cataldo (GC's 7th, + 0.43) next on the road and the former race-winner (back in 2015) doesn't do too well today:
+ 1'33" on Kudus, which may just be enough to finish inside the Top-30 of the stage!
Roche (GC's 6th, + 0.41) then. Not his favorite terrain here, but certainly a solid climber, who should fancy his chances to keep his high GC position. He's not too bad at all:
+ 52" on Kudus though, two seconds better than Quintana...
..and unfortunatelly for him, the next man on the road is the best climber on paper:
Denifl (GC's 5th, + 0.39) did already well in yesterday's hilly stage and he's super impressive today! He goes past Roche with still 3km to climb:
new best time and he blows Kudus' already strong time by 55 seconds!
Sicard (GC's 4th, + 0.37) as the next big favorite for the stage today, but will he be strong enough to defend his 2-seconds advantage on Denifl from prior to the stage? He's going strong as well, but:
+ 19" as 2nd at the finish! Denifl definitely had a huge climb here..
Kwiatkowski (GC's 3rd, + 0.31) as the next climber, who must have been aiming to fight for yellow today. Given Denifl's time, it may be a mission impossible though:
+ 43" as 3rd - a strong performance to beat Kudus by almost ten seconds, but clearly slower than Denifl anyway
Kinoshita (GC's 2nd, + 0.02) probably won't stand a chance against those big times from Denifl and Sicard, but the goal stays the same - rode a strong timetrial and stay in contention for at least the Top-5 in the GC:
+ 3'11" as 53rd... it could have been better!
Ignatiev once again proved so far, that he's a great rider. Mountains though are his only real weakness (well and cobbles, of course). It's all about limiting the damage in the best possible way. With another hilly stage to come tomorrow, his Top-10 ambitions for the GC are definitely alive:
+ 4'27" as 87th today though.. a minute lost on Kinoshita, which might have been expected though..
No one could match Denifl anyway. What an impressive performance from the premium climber, who takes the prestigious Mt Fuji by almost 20 seconds on Sicard and 43 seconds on Kwiatkowski!
That's good news for his GC ambitions..
..as he slips into yellow with another key stage tomorrow: Sicard 17 seconds off as 2nd and being the slightly better puncheur, he's certainly in striking distance. Kwiatkowski a strong 3rd with 35 seconds behind Denifl. That's also still a dangerous rider for the new GC-leader.
Kudus up to 4th with a minute on Denifl now. Roche 5th. Cataldo two and a half minutes behind as 6th, with Kinoshita just a couple of seconds off as 7th. A Top-5 in the GC ain't out of reach, even though he would need a special performance tomorrow.
Shikai up to 8th, Duarte and Roglic also moving up inside the Top-10! Khederi (11th), Ignatiev (12th) and Palini (18th) couldn't defend their Top-10 positions, but Ignatiev is still in striking distance for the Top-10 maybe. Dennis down to 14th ahead of Sanchez Gil, who might have hoped for something better today.
