60km TTT can deliver big gaps. In especially for those two teams with one abandoned rider already!
GC wise Amador and Schleck might take profit today from strong TT support. The two favourite teams while also Hugo Boss should do well for Alarcon on paper or Porto for Machado.
Other teams such as Festina for Lecuisinier, Moser for Hirt or also Aker(Guldhammer) and eBuddy (Dombrowski) will need to limit their loss as they belong to the weaker TT lineups.
T-Mobile around Preidler should probably concentrate on stage hunting in the 2nd half of the Giro. Too weak Preidler`s climbing and even weaker todays TTT. Says enough if they don`t have a single real TT rider in their roster and also that they get passed early by Porto - Prio around Machado. Quite decent lineup for them with Nascimento, Leung and Nareklishvili pushing for Machado as the team`s 5th men.
In the finish the two teams seperate more than 3min!
Aegon - Lavazza for Dekker also having a decent TT lineup here with Dumoulin, Frison, Boom and Dekker himself all being 77+ and Koep as weaker 5th men.
At the 2nd split they are just 3s behind Porto`s time and only losing their 7th rider as Groenewegen as 6th still hanging with them.
Meiji - JR East again a weak TT team. Choi as GC rider the only decent time trialist.
And it shows off as they are already at the minimum amount of riders a bit under 10km to go and close to 3min off at the 2nd split.
Similar for Air France - KLM. Also losing their riders early but going a higher pace with Kwok, Bernaudeu and Andersen being decent help for Quintana. Though also already quite a bit off!
Aker - MOT didn`t look that good on paper with Vangstad and Walsleben as only real TT riders for Guldhammer. But their time is decent. Provisional 6th and just half a minute behind Porto! But with 5 riders already and still 10km to go!
Hugo Boss at the same spot with 2 riders more and 30s faster! Alarcon is having good support in Salas, Aramendia and co.
Evonik - ELKO never has a good TT rider. Point. But without a real GC rider neither, they likely don`t care a lot and can go with a weak time but as full team to save energy for the breakaways.
Berg Cycles has a strong leader in Cattaneo against the clock and with Van Winden, Balloni etc. a perfect team around. Behind those 3 though a bit of a gap but no weak rider neithers.
And they beat Porto`s time by 3s!
Team UBS though smashing all times. Amador is an expert and so are Dillier, Goncalves, Ivars, Schärt and Ramos Ticona and also the latest 2 are decent. They pass the 2nd time check 41s faster than Berg, 44s to Porto and 47s to Aegon. 52s to Hugo Boss as last below the 1min mark.
Meanwhile in the finish Aegon goes 9s slower than Porto, which is 3min faster than T-Mobile! And also Hugo Boss a bit later with the same time! But ranked 3rd behind Aegon!
Air France at 1'51 and Meiji at 3min afterwards and also Aker is coming in at 1'06.
And now Berg Cycles was super close to a new best time! But they lost Jacobsen and Bartl on the final kilometer and they timing went until one of them passed the line. And they finish 3s behind Porto! It could have been 20-30s faster with one of them staying with the top4.
And also Team UBS coming to the finish. And they continued with their pace. 1'02 in the end ahead of Porto. This e.g. means gaining that time on Machado, 2min on Guldhammer and now the info coming in that Hugo Boss was only 1'12 behind but their actual GC rider Alarcon as only 7th best time trialist was forgotten on the way and he is losing many minutes! Apparently more than 5min to the UBS time! Big shock for the team. that went for the stage win instead.
Grieg - Eftel with a good time. Very good even seeing they don`t have an expert here but a good depth. 2nd best in the finish and 49s off, so a bit ahead of Porto.
Team Tinkoff often having a strong TTT lineup. Not so much in this Giro. No awful lineup but all in teh mid 70`s and missing 2-3 pacers and for that reason ending in the later half of the stage ranking.
Volvo acc. by Spotify for Abal and he has 4 quality TT riders with him making it a very strong top5. On Paper. Their best Haugard already left the race and is clearly missing here. 10th and +55 is not as good as expected surely.
Desigual one of the stage favourites again with 5 strong time trialists around Nibali with Fraile, Oliveira and Verona being the best.
They had been 3rd early on just 11s off UBS and kept that 3rd with 21s behind at the 2nd split. Podium is realistic. For more they need a great last sector. Still with 6 riders though and just 5km to go.
Also eBuddy with 6 riders in the late phase but surely not going as fast as Howson and Lammertink would like. Dombrowski as 3rd best time trialist at least won`t get dropped as Alarcon but he is not that strong and the team is being slowed down by those. They are 1'20 down at the 2nd time.
EA Vesuvio is having a great TT support for Schleck. Kittel in especially but also Jungels, Goos, Kneisky and all others. Not a singly bad one.
2nd and +6 and 2nd and +16 were the numbers early on and this way being a bit ahead of Desigual but behind UBS. Gaining on most riders though!
Philips - Continental with an okay top5 TT riders around Henao but no the strongest. 17th early and then improving a bit but they will lose time surely.
Moser - Sygic with Hirt surely one of the weak TT lineups. The GC rider still the best actually. 20th and 53s at the first and 14th and 1'31 after ~40km.
Bennelong - Mitchelton always has a strong TTT and while only having 5 good time trialists here, those are pretty good. Still they are on a good day as well it seems. 4th at the latest time check and just 24s behind UBS!
RBC Pro Cycling without Phinney is only half a TTT lineup. Still Cataford, Rosskopf and Brown are more than decent and might give them a top10 today. 9th and 48s right now and more important still 8 riders with 18km to go.
Desigual finishing now with 5 riders together. 2nd and 27s off UBS` best time. Solid and will surely help Nibali in the fight for the top10-15.
EA Vesuvio then coming to the finish with Schleck being safely in as 5th and they beat Desigual`s time by some seconds. 17s off UBS though.
Bennelong - Mitchelton lost a few seconds in the end due to Morton having a tiny gap as last rider. Still a stunning 4th and +49s only, which is a bit better than expected probably.
Festina - Dexia is losing a lot today. Not only their lineup made a good time impossible, also their needed 5th rider had a gap and time did run after Lecuisinier +3 were in. Fabbro then comes in with 3'04 behind UBS and hence such loss to Amador and a bit less to Schleck, Nibali, Morton.
Isostar Slovenija not having a real leader here and neither a good TT lineup. Faiers as best or maybe Ricco lose more than 2min today.
Team Puma - SAP is mainly about Demare here but Bongiorno might go for a top15-20. As 13th and 1'34 behind, this is a decent time.
Gazelle as last team but while Bibby stayed with them, Formolo lost contact early as their weakest TT rider and is coming in some 11min later!
The rest though did a good job and actually improved over the final sector. 4th in the end just 39s off the best time.
GC wise Amador is taking over and is now 14s ahead of Schleck and 46s to Machado. Morton at 51s also well placed while Dombrowski already 1'30 off.
Nibali, Guldhammer, Bibby, Abal and Dekker follow but those are 2nd tier GC riders only.
Lecuisinier at 3'23 and in especially Alarcon at 5'18 will need some time gaining in the mountains surely.
