A long, flat-rated time trial of nearly 58 kilometers between Novo Mesto and the capital of Ljubljana. First starter is Grellier, who would also finish last on today's stage.
Kovalev as first of the pure time trial specialists. Time to beat: 1 hour, 20 minutes and 50 seconds.
Someone who also lost a lot of time on the hills: Olman. He lost 28 seconds over the 57.9 kilometers today.
Johansson with virtual third time amongst the early starters...
until Burke went two seconds faster to take third place away from him.
Laizer had a very disappointing first time trial, but appears to ride considerably better today: 1h21'23 for virtual third place.
His teammate Mottin comes steaming down the road, beating the best time at every split and destroying Kovalev's time by nearly a minute. 1 hour, 19 minutes and 54 seconds, who can beat that?
Sterobo can't, he loses 1'24, good enough for third.
Marchewka had a strong start, coming close to Mottin's split times, but fades away towards the end to lose 1 minute and 26 seconds.
Bookwalter posts the exact same times as Marchewka at the first two splits, but he does not have as big of a drop off. He still lost 1 minute and 14 seconds, which for now brings him third place.
Good time for Bouet, virtual sixth at 1'42.
Downey with eight time so far at 1'42.
Cheyne also posts a time good for a top ten classification on the stage, but also 1 minute and 26 seconds behind Mottin.
Someone who could be challenging the leading time is Pökala, but he disappoints by losing 1'30 and just getting inside the virtual top ten.
Hacecký with the same time as teammate Bodnar, losing 1'50 for a place just outside the top ten.
Once again Sepulveda really underperforms, he won't even finish in the top forty today and lost more than three minutes.
Winner of the first time trial Martin at the start. He needs 2'31 on Meyer to take back that jersey.
Meyer does not look very nervous, knowing he might well retake the jersey on tomorrow's hilly stage if he loses it today. He has an advantage of 1'04 on Craddock, 1'14 on Christian and the aforementioned 2'31 on Meyer.
Times for the four major players after the first split:
Christian
17'44
Craddock
17'47
+ 3
Martin
18'00
+ 16
Meyer
18'26
+ 42
That's a very disappointing start for Martin, losing time to both Christian and Craddock. Meyer already sees most of his advantage disappearing, while Christian moves closer towards Craddock.
Bauer losing two minutes to Mottin but likely to make a huge jump in the GC.
Kireva with a slightly worse time but just enough to stay ahead of Bauer in the GC
Gonzalez Cortes was seven seconds ahead of Kireva before today but lost more than that. After today he will be tenth in the GC though, with Bauer ninth and Kireva eight.
GC 16th Warbasse lost two minutes and one second, but is set to move up a few places in the GC with his better time trial compared to the ones around him.
Zoidl is four seconds slower than Warbasse, but does defend his place in the GC.
One thing is sure after today: Reus will not win the GC two years in a row. He's 43rd (!) at the first split, and it does not get much better for the Dutchman. He lost 3'09 today and does not move forward in the GC as much as he wanted to.
Second split times for the favorites:
Christian
39'38
Craddock
39'44
+ 6
Martin
40'24
+ 46
Meyer
41'08
+ 1'30
We have a new virtual GC leader in Craddock! How long will it last though, because Christian is now only four seconds away and set for second place on this stage. Martin on the other hand drops further down, he only posts the 30th time at the second split compared to Christian's second and Craddock's fourth.
Hugentobler is no time trialist, and rides one of the worst times of today (+6'43) to drop from 12th to 40th in the GC.
Ben Nasser does his best to limit his losses, and does a good job (+4'17). He moves down a few places in the GC, but still has sight of a top ten.
Zaini even worse than Hugentobler (+6'48), and really has to make up a lot of time for a somewhat decent result tomorrow.
Kadri is currently 9th in the GC but not much longer. His bad time (+6'12) sees, amongst others, Zoidl and Warbasse climb over him.
Everyone has now passed the third split:
Christian
59'12
Craddock
59'22
+ 10
Martin
60'14
+ 1'02
Meyer
61'23
+ 2'11
The gap between Craddock and Christian before the stage was 10 seconds, and now they're exactly level! Martin really looks out of it today, he hasn't even passed Meyer in the GC yet.
Martin crosses the line exactly two minutes behind Mottin: 1h21'54. This is only 17th place at the moment which will likely turn into 19th after Craddock and Christian finish. What a disappointment for the German!
KoM leader Rocchetti shows his top classification is not just a fluke (+5'26), dropping a few places though but 14th is beyond his expectations.
Sixth in the GC belongs to Siskevicius at the moment, and his time (+5'02) only drops him to twelfth.
Di Maggio knows he's terrible at time trials, and his time (+6'22) puts him in the same boat as Zaini. Maybe they'll have to work together tomorrow.
Gautier amongst the best punchers (+4'16), but is still overtaken by Christian on the stage and both Zoidl and Warbasse in the GC.
Christian puts the hammer down, knowing every second may count: 1h20'38. Second place on the stage, 44 seconds behind Mottin.
A short wait before Craddock crosses the line, and he does so in 1h20'52, losing an additional four seconds on the final stretch. Unless Meyer has a rocket strapped to his back, Christian will lead the GC!
And the last one to cross the line is Meyer (+3'39). He has lost his jersey but he fought hard for it, even remaining third in the GC ahead of Martin.
Stage victory goes to Hugues Mottin, sitting in the hot seat for nearly all daym with Christian and Kovalev completing the podium. Mark Christian now leads the GC by four seconds over Craddock, with Meyer at 1'41, Martin at 2'33, Zoidl at 3'26, Warbasse at 3'30 and Gautier at 3'36. One stage to go, where everything could still change.
