Greetings to all and welcome to today's opening stage of Tirreno - Adriatico. It will be a long journey this year, with three stages counting more than 200km - but today, we'll start with the shortest one.
The 5.4km prologue in Lido di Camaiore - a city with 30,000 inhabitants - will see the riders on a coastal road, travelling north-west with the Ligurian Sea to their left. But wait - coastal road? Wind? Yes, a tiny little bit - currently blowing 6km/h straigt in race direction. Let's hope this doesn't change too much.
Today won't be the decisive stage of the race for sure, but there's a stage win and the first leader jersey on offer - and the bookies see the expected riders on top: Taaramäe, Gonzalez Salas and Gesink as today's top favorites, then Malori, Lammertink and Hansen. Surprisingly, they only see Van Winden and Coquard as outsiders, just as Herklotz and Brändle.
While Taaramäe, Gesink and Herklotz could use this prologue to their advantage, most other GC riders will hope not to lose too much time. Let's find out how well they do!
And already the second rider on track could have set a good reference mark, as Sepulveda stops the clock at 6'01, beating Uwizeyimana's time by 5".
As expected, Van Winden takes the lead only little later - the new time to beat is 5'58, meaning an average speed of more than 54km/h. Let's see who's able to top this today!
Velits as the first top climber isn't, as he loses 10". Not great, but it should be an OK start for him.
Vassdal is no GC rider, but he rides a good prologue, losing only 4" and taking currently 3rd.
Turek matches this time, but was some split seconds slower. Currently 4th for him.
And Sagan makes it three with the same time, as he comes in 5th.
Oliveira just fails to do so, as he loses one more second. Probably not quite good enough for him. We have to say, though, that we have no more wind currently.
A fact that doesn't keep Lammertink from posting the second time, just 1" off the best time!
A time that is matched by Jungels, who even was some fractions of a second faster and now takes 2nd!
Ji then coming in as expected with no top time, as he loses 21". Nothing lost, but he'll need to gain that time back somewhere in the upcoming week.
Lopez does 4" better, posting a time of 6'15. An OK start for him as well, but no more.
But we have an absolutely disappointing time then by Denifl, who is alread 29" back. Of course, he can gain that time back in the mountains, but it's certainly not what he hoped for today.
He wasn't on the favorites list for today, but Lecuisinier shows a good race and only loses 3" so far, meaning P4 currently.
With Malori, we have the first 2-star-favorite on track - and he doesn't deliver. Not at all. He loses 8" and only comes in being 12th. No good day for him.
Quintana doesn't have a great day, either, losing already 26" today. He'll have some work to do in the mountains as well.
So does Boily. Well, for him, the hilly stages will be the better option, but can he gain back 41"?
Korsaeth then the next rider who had certainly marked this day in his calendar - but fails to deliver his best performance. 18" lost and only 41st - surely not matching his expectations.
A much better performance by Goldstein, who is just some split seconds behind Lammertink, taking currently 4th! Apparently, he was even too fast for the TV broadcaster - we apologize for not having shown his arrival!
The next favorite does much better, and Brändle is even attacking the best time! 5'55...5'56...5'57...5'58 - exactly the same time as Van Winden! But the judges rank him first, so he was some split seconds faster than the Dutchman!
Let's have a look at the current Top 10, before most stage and GC favorites start their race:
1. Brändle 5'58
2. Van Winden + 0"
3. Jungels + 1"
4. Lammertink + 1"
5. Goldstein + 1"
6. Lecuisinier + 3"
7. Sepulveda + 3"
8. Vassdal + 4"
9. Turek + 4"
10. Sagan + 4"
OK, maybe we should have waited with these intermediate standings, as Bernaudeau approaches the finish line very quickly as well! 5'55...5'56...5'57...5'58 - same time again! The judges rank him between the two others, so he currently takes the 2nd place!
Dees another rider with a great performance today, losing just 3" and getting currently 8th! The wind back to the strength we had at the start probably helped him, but it's still a very nice ride!
And what is Dekker doing here? He misses out on the best time by a tiny second - which however is only worth a 7th place so far, as the race is incredibly close!
The next top favorite in Gonzalez Salas - the next disappointing top favorite, though! He is 6" back and outside the Top 10 - big bummer!
An expected deficit then for Betancourt, who is 43" back - which is quite near to the bottom end of the standings. Some work to do for him as well!
Dal Col, another decent prologue rider, quite far back as well, losing 10" on the current leader.
Guldhammer loses some more time - but this was expected, and his time of 6'11 (+ 13") is definitely a good mark for him, gaining time on many other climbers.
At least, he is stronger than Andersen - another good prologue rider who didn't find his best legs today, losing 16".
How do you define a close race? An example may be if Brown loses just 2" and is only 8th!
Formolo then is another not-so-great prologue rider, but losing 21" should be acceptable for him. It won't be easy to get that time back, though.
Same story for Berhane, who loses ten additional seconds, 31" in total.
Hansen comes in next, and the clock ticks 5'55...5'56...5'57...5'58...5'59...6'00...6'01 - same time as Lecuisinier, but slightly slower. It's currently a Top 10 for him, though, as he is just 10th.
Martin with quite a decent performance for his standards, too, losing 14".
We probably can't talk about decent prologue performances for Preidler, as he's just bad in this discipline. Losing 58" is just too much, only two riders were slower so far.
Yates is again more in the Martin category, being 16" off the best time. OK for him.
It's even slightly better for Hirt, who loses 12". Wellens with a 18" deficit in the same range as well - we're surely set for some interesting GC fights!
Morton is in the mix, too, losing 12" on the current leader. That's a solid base for the great climber.
A solid base it is for Gesink as well, but he surely hoped for more, maybe even the stage win. But he's rather "far" away, losing 7", getting him just a low-end Top 20 for now.
Dombrowski loses just 5" more, which is a solid start for him.
Another top favorite in Herklotz is within reach of the TV cameras as well, but the clock is ticking - can he get the lead? 5'55...5'56...5'57...5'58...5'59 - No! Just one second missing - and it's only the 8th place for him! He's the slowest of five riders with the same time.
Groenewegen cannot match the German's time, as expected - but 19" back is actually quite much for him.
Spilak was none of the top favorites today - and he doesn't win, but with 5" lost it's still a decent start for him.
Taaramäe definitely wants to win today, and he's at least close - 5'55...5'56...5'57...5'58...5'59...6'00...6'01 - No, that wasn't his best race. He's currently 12th, which is by far not what was expected from him.
One single rider remaining - and Bryan Coquard not even tries to make it a suspenseful race, as he crushes the former best time! The Frenchman is a fantastic five seconds faster than the rest of the world - when looking at how close it was behind him, that's just a terrific performance!
Maybe he just didn't want to enter the split seconds lottery, as the three riders behind him all have the same time: Matthias Brändle, Mathieu Bernaudeau and an unlucky Dennis Van Winden take places 2 to 4.
Then, it's even "worse", as five riders share the same final time: Bob Jungels, Steven Lammertink, Roy Goldstein, Thomas Dekker and Silvio Herklotz. Nathan Brown, the only rider with + 7", rounds up the Top 10.
With his outstanding performance today, Bryan Coquard definitely deserves his three appearances on the podium - for the stage win, the leader jersey, and the points jersey. He should have great chances of keeping these two jerseys tomorrow - and may even have a good shot at the final point standings, given the two remaining sprint stages.
The youth jersey goes to Silvio Herklotz, as expected. And if he shouldn't wear it one day, it would probably be to replace it with another one - preferrably the blue leader jersey.
In the team standings, we have Generali as our first leader - despite having their best rider on P10, they're leading ahead of Grieg - Maersk and Festina - OAKA, who have enough to celebrate anyway.
As expected, most GC favorites are between 20 and 30 seconds back after this first stage, with some being sligthly ahead ( Herklotz, Lecuisinier, Taaramäe, Spilak, Gesink), and some others already quite far back ( Betancourt, Preidler). But the gaps are within one minute, so everything is still possible - at least until stage 3. Let's see tomorrow who the fastest boys are on the flat!
Tirreno - Adriatico 
