On that day it was Taaramäe who reined supreme, riding into yellow and taking an emphatic solo victory at La Planche des Belles Filles. He now has a 1'41 lead over Spilak, and will hope to extend his advantage today. Former race leader Gesink had a disaster day and dropped to fourth, but the World Champion in this discipline will be hoping to claw back some time on the other GC contenders.
Sicard is not a bad time triallist by any means but will be on the defensive you would expect after riding with Spilak and jumping to third in the overall classification, whilst his countryman Lecuisinier, already 6 and a half minutes down on Taaramae, will be hoping to make some gains today, as will Dekker and Kangert in the top 10.
Bernaudeau is third to the finish and shaves 10 seconds off the time of Korsaeth to take the hot seat.
AramendÃa +2, used the climb to his advantage and even bettered Bernaudeau at check 3. Shaane "The Flying Mullet" Archbold +17
Wohler with a measured but powerful ride and takes first through every check, and at the finish! 8 seconds better than Bernaudeau.
Hofer +21 Dumoulin +29
Hepburn is a top favourite today but can't quite live up to the billing, missing his teammate's time by 8 seconds. However he is the fourth Bennelong rider in the top 10, which is very impressive.
Wow! Jacob Fiedler crushes the best time with an imperious time, and sets a new best at 1:19:48. That's why he's touted as stage favourite and renowned as one of the best in the world in this discipline.
Turek +51
A kneis ride here from Kneisky, enough for third, just two seconds behind Wohler but 41 behind Fiedler.
My fifth Aker TT this year and I still can't get over how sexy that rear wheel is
Whilst Paillot is certainly a top stage win contender I doubt he's too displeased with second given Fiedler's storming time. +19
Fraile is a slightly dissapointing 86th in GC but has shown himself: in a breakaway yesterday chasing KoM points, and so we should see more of him. I doubt his team will mind given Nibali is a very impressive fifth right now!
The Basque stage racer here with a very good time across the first two checks, just 3 seconds behind Fiedler, and makes it up on the hill to edge out the German by 1 second! And the hill clearly affects the rolling descent as Fraile has more in the tank to the finish, and comes in 14 seconds ahead of Fiedler! What a performance on a very suiting parcours. Of course he won the late time trial in the Giro in April, so he’s chasing an unlikely double here today!
Goncalves + 44
Vangstad overtakes his teammate Paillot to go provisional third, 23 seconds down. Another one using the hill and rolling terrain to his advantage, making up time on the other top 5 riders there.
Bevin +1'07 Dennis +45
If you cast your minds back a week you'll recall our first yellow jersey was Lars Boom, and he looks like he might win another TT today! He uses the hill even better than Fraile to leapfrog the Spaniard... but can't match his finish and concedes 5 seconds at the finish.
It's been a disaster Tour for Porto-Prio with all three climbers out of the GC picture, and none of them will be more dissapointed than pre-race podium contender Intxausti. But could a resurgence be on the cards? Because this man has form in his legs and fight in his heart, and has taken the lead at all three checks! And he doesn't let up, in fact he puts 12 seconds into Fraile over the last stretch to take the lead by 13 seconds! This could be a great consolation stage win, and hopefully we see him going after some more stage success, and who knows - even come back to the top 10? I sure hope this means he still has gas in the tank!
A Basque top 2 in a time trial, who'd have thought it?
Keinath + 1'14
Wellens with an okay time, maybe not what he had hoped for but 2'27 conceded to Intxausti is no disaster.
However just behind him is Haig with a fantastic performance which could see him break into the top 10! Provisional sixth, 48 seconds behind Intxausti!
5th for Dekker, a solid performance and just 29 seconds down on Intxausti, and so no time lost to anyone he's defending his spot from!
Slagter +4'02, heavy, heavy losses for the Dutchman!
Lecuisinier with an inconsistent performance, losing no time in the second sector and gaining it in the fourth, but conceding in the other two. +30 for a probable stage top 10 and solid performance for the white jersey.
Not the performance Kangert may have wanted, but 44 seconds lost isn't bad at all.
Flügel got overtaken there and loses 3'46, his top 10 run is probably over but nevertheless he'll be one of the happiest riders in the race still. Now he may go stage hunting, or wait for the Mont Faron finish in the third week!
A middling performance from Roche, who will hopefully keep fighting for his GC spot against the odds in the next 11 stages. 2'15 lost to Intxausti.
Nibali will hold on to the top 5 with a solid performance, coming in 1'24 down.
Gesink comes in very unhappy, an off day for the World Champ as instead of making up time, he's lost it to all three riders on course behind him at each check! Provisional 11th, 56 seconds off the pace.
Sicard continues his surprising form from the Vosges into this time trial, placing fifth at the moment, 29 seconds down and putting his advantage to Gesink to almost 2 minutes!
If you want a surprise, this is the one. What could have been a bogey stage for Spilak compared to his rivals for yellow, has turned into his biggest victory yet, and most likely his first stage win! The damage? First at every check, by 2, 6, 30 and now at the finish 44 seconds ahead of Intxausti! The hill clearly giving him the edge as one of the top puncheurs in the race, but his power on the flat as the best is a little surprising! A storming stage win, but it could be even more...
but it won't. However Taaramae will still be furious with this stage, where he could have put himself into a two-minute cushion on Spilak, he instead almost loses yellow. 1'28 he has lost to his Slovenian rival, giving him a slender 13 second lead for the Alps. Oh what a twist in this tale - the fight for yellow is barely beginning!
What a ride from Simon Spilak! Few would have fancied him for the stage win today, but he's defied the odds to not only take a special victory here in Porrentruy, but also take back almost all of his deficit against Rein Taaramae.
And here is Rein Taaramae, with a half-hearted smile on the podium as he collects his yellow jersey. Today could have been the day he set himself a huge lead in the general classification, instead his work in the Vosges is almost completely undone as he's back to having a lead of just seconds to Simon Spilak.
Sicard holds onto third and is riding very well so far, whilst Gesink will rue today as not only did he not gain time on his podium rival, he in fact lost it. Lecuisinier is back into the top 5 with a strong ride, whilst Kangert does well to move himself up to sixth! Dekker and Nibali continue their strong form to stay in the top 10, as does Rochew to a different degree, whilst Jack Haig made good use of his skills to move into the top 10!
Spilak also moves into the green jersey here with this stage win. Not his main focus but he's definitely capable of winning this. He'll be wanting to move out of it as soon as possible though when we hit the Alps in two days.
Tomorrow is another opportunity for the sprinters, who I'm sure took it a little easier today, just making it around the course as they save energy for a stage win tomorrow. They'll hope their teammates warmed up today to help them catch the breakaway this time - there's nothing as fustrating as winning a pack sprint behind a breakaway!
