The first stage of this year’s Vuelta al País Vasco is a TTT on a rather flat profile
It is a nice spring day in Basque Country 17°C, almost no wind this morning but expected to become a light breeze in the late part of the race.
Reminder of predicted ranking.
Generali
79
Aegon - Lavazza
78
SPAR - Siam Cement
78
Team Puma - SAP
78
Air France - KLM
78
Bennelong - Mitchelton
77
Gazelle
77
Andorra Cycling Project
76
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
75
ENI - MOL
75
Duolingo
75
Carrefour - ESPN
75
Rakuten Pro Cycling
75
Kraftwerk Man Machine
75
Delvaux
74
Swisslion Cycling Team
73
Philips
73
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
72
Kulczyk - Alitalia
71
Isostar - LimeBike
71
Evonik - ELKO
71
T-Mobile
70
Moser - Sygic
69
Team Europcar
67
The Race
First team on the route today is Gazelle they will make it to the first TC in 9’51
Kraftwerk Man Machine 2nd and a bit slower 10’10
Generali new best first sector time, 9’49
Delvaux 3rd right now 10’19
SPAR - Siam Cement new 3rd best 9’53
Kulczyk – Alitalia 10’38
Rakuten Pro Cycling 4th 10’05
Team Europcar 10’35
Philips 10’15 5th right now at the first sector
Gazelle reach 2nd TC in 22’13
Aegon – Lavazza 1st TC 9’51 shared 2nd best with Gazelle
Kraftwerk Man Machine 2nd TC in 22’43
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff 1st TC in 10’11
Generali new best at 2nd TC in 22’03
Moser – Sygic at first TC in 10’32
Half the teams over first Time Check, Current Ranking:
1
Generali
00:09:49
2
Gazelle
00:09:51
3
Aegon - Lavazza
00:09:51
4
SPAR - Siam Cement
00:09:53
5
Rakuten Pro Cycling
00:10:05
6
Kraftwerk Man Machine
00:10:10
7
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
00:10:11
8
Philips
00:10:15
9
Delvaux
00:10:19
10
Moser - Sygic
00:10:32
11
Team Europcar
00:10:35
12
Kulczyk - Alitalia
00:10:38
Delvaux reach the 2nd time check in 22’48
Isostar – LimeBike passes first TC in 10’29
SPAR - Siam Cement new 2nd best at 2nd time check 22’12 one sec. faster than Gazelle
Swisslion Cycling Team at first sector check in 10’12
Kulczyk – Alitalia 2nd TC in 23’41
T-Mobile first sector in 10’43
Rakuten Pro Cycling at the 2nd TC in 22’43”
ENI – MOL first sector in 10’16
Team Europcar 2nd sector in 23’49
Bennelong – Mitchelton first time under 10 min for a while after first sector 9’59, 5th.
Philips at 2nd TC in 23’04
Gazelle’s workday is over; we get our first full time with 30’33, hard to tell how good that is, but seen from the previous sector will have a good TTT compared to expectations.
Andorra Cycling Project first sector in 10’25
Aegon – Lavazza passes 2nd sector check in 22’13 – again exactly same time as Gazelle, but this time as shard 3rd as we remember SPAR took 2nd best with a great 2nd sector.
Kraftwerk Man Machine full time 31’12 this was 39” slower than Gazelle, looks like it could become a fine result for them.
Air France – KLM passing the first sector check in 10’09
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff at the 2nd time check in 22’49
Generali as we might have expected after the great 2 first sectors, new best full time 30’25 8” faster than Gazelle, either Gazelle had a super last sector or Generali a bit slow, because the gap now 2” smaller.
Duolingo first sector in 10’15
Moser – Sygic 2nd TC in 23’42
Half the teams have passes 2nd sector, this is the ranking
1
Generali
00:22:03
2
SPAR - Siam Cement
00:22:12
3
Gazelle
00:22:13
4
Aegon - Lavazza
00:22:13
5
Kraftwerk Man Machine
00:22:43
6
Rakuten Pro Cycling
00:22:43
7
Delvaux
00:22:48
8
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
00:22:49
9
Philips
00:23:04
10
Kulczyk - Alitalia
00:23:41
11
Moser - Sygic
00:23:42
12
Team Europcar
00:23:49
Delvaux full time 31’27 this is a loss of 1’02 – most likely within expectations.
Evonik – ELKO first sector in 10’40
Isostar – LimeBike 2nd sector time check in 23’27”
SPAR - Siam Cement full time 30’37, 3nd right now but lost some time to Gazelle over the final sector, all in all looks like it might still be an OK result, we will see.
Carrefour – ESPN first sector check 10’28
Swisslion Cycling Team 2nd sector in 22’56
Kulczyk – Alitalia full time 32’36 that is 2’11 behind Generali, expectation was a rather bad TTT and this will likely become a time at the lower end of the list
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam at the first time check in 10’29
T-Mobile 2nd time check 23’49
Rakuten Pro Cycling full time 31’19 that is 54” behind Generali. Expected a mid-table time, seem like we are at least in that region.
Team Puma – SAP last team to pass the first sector 9’59 that is shared 5th with Bennelong
All times at first sector
1
Generali
00:09:49
2
Gazelle
00:09:51
3
Aegon - Lavazza
00:09:51
4
SPAR - Siam Cement
00:09:53
5
Bennelong - Mitchelton
00:09:59
6
Team Puma - SAP
00:09:59
7
Rakuten Pro Cycling
00:10:05
8
Air France - KLM
00:10:09
9
Kraftwerk Man Machine
00:10:10
10
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
00:10:11
11
Swisslion Cycling Team
00:10:12
12
Philips
00:10:15
13
Duolingo
00:10:15
14
ENI - MOL
00:10:16
15
Delvaux
00:10:19
16
Andorra Cycling Project
00:10:25
17
Carrefour - ESPN
00:10:28
18
Isostar - LimeBike
00:10:29
19
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
00:10:29
20
Moser - Sygic
00:10:32
21
Team Europcar
00:10:35
22
Kulczyk - Alitalia
00:10:38
23
Evonik - ELKO
00:10:40
24
T-Mobile
00:10:43
ENI – MOL 2nd sector in 22’53
Team Europcar full time 32’53 that is 2’28 behind Generali, expected to be one of the weakest TTT squads.
Bennelong – Mitchelton at 2nd time check 22’21, 5th right now
Philips full time 31’54, that is 1’29 behind Generali, expected a low end TTT and seeming what we also get.
Andorra Cycling Project at 2nd check, 23’01
Aegon – Lavazza full time 30’35, 10” behind Generali, not enough to beat Gazelle for 2nd but beating SPAR with 2” for third.
Air France – KLM at 2nd check in 22’45
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff full time 31’30, 1’05 behind Generali. Expected a top 10 time but currently 8th after just 11 teams might be hard to fulfill.
Duolingo 2nd time check in 22’46
Moser – Sygic full time 32’39, 2’14 behind Generali, as expected a time in the low end of the leaderboard.
Half of the teams now finished the race:
1
Generali
00:30:25
2
Gazelle
00:30:33
3
Aegon - Lavazza
00:30:35
4
SPAR - Siam Cement
00:30:37
5
Kraftwerk Man Machine
00:31:12
6
Rakuten Pro Cycling
00:31:19
7
Delvaux
00:31:27
8
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
00:31:30
9
Philips
00:31:54
10
Kulczyk - Alitalia
00:32:36
11
Moser - Sygic
00:32:39
12
Team Europcar
00:32:53
Evonik – ELKO 2nd time check in 23’38
Isostar – LimeBike full time 32’19, 1’54 behind Generali, expected about 20th, currently 10th of 13 teams
Carrefour – ESPN at 2nd time check in 23’09
Swisslion Cycling Team full time 31’34, 1’09 behind Generali. Swisslion expected just outside top 15 and currently 9th of 14 teams, seemingly on target or better.
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam at 2nd time check in 23’21
T-Mobile full time 32’44, 2’19 behind Generali as expected not a strong TTT team.
Team Puma – SAP the last team to pass the 2nd time check 22’18
Full ranking at 2nd time check.
1
Generali
00:22:03
2
SPAR - Siam Cement
00:22:12
3
Gazelle
00:22:13
4
Aegon - Lavazza
00:22:13
5
Team Puma - SAP
00:22:18
6
Bennelong - Mitchelton
00:22:21
7
Kraftwerk Man Machine
00:22:43
8
Rakuten Pro Cycling
00:22:43
9
Air France - KLM
00:22:45
10
Duolingo
00:22:46
11
Delvaux
00:22:48
12
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
00:22:49
13
ENI - MOL
00:22:53
14
Swisslion Cycling Team
00:22:56
15
Andorra Cycling Project
00:23:01
16
Philips
00:23:04
17
Carrefour - ESPN
00:23:09
18
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
00:23:21
19
Isostar - LimeBike
00:23:27
20
Evonik - ELKO
00:23:38
21
Kulczyk - Alitalia
00:23:41
22
Moser - Sygic
00:23:42
23
Team Europcar
00:23:49
24
T-Mobile
00:23:49
ENI – MOL full time 31’39, 1’14 behind Generali. Expected a top 10 time, but currently already 10th of 16 teams they will drop further down the list.
Bennelong – Mitchelton full time 30’48, 23” behind Generali. Currently 5th and it seems only Puma could change that.
Andorra Cycling Project full time 31’32, 1’07 behind Generali. Predicted 8th but currently 10th and like to drop at least one or two positions more.
Air France – KLM full time 31’18, 53” behind Generali, predicted 5th but currently 7th and likely to at least drop another position what Puma crosses the finish line.
Duolingo full time 31’26, 1’01 behind Generali, predicted 11th and current 9th, seemingly secured to squeeze into top 10
Evonik – ELKO full time 32’22, 1’57 behind Generali, expected 21th and now 17th so guaranteed a top 20 even if they lose to the last three teams coming in later.
Carrefour – ESPN full time 31’46 1’21 behind Generali, predicted 12th but currently 15th expected to drop at least another position
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam full time 31’59, 1’34 behind Generali, expected 18 and seems to be on target.
Team Puma – SAP last team today with full time 30’38, 13” behind Generali that is 5th, as other teams in the top losing a slot compared to predictions due to the great race from Gazelle.
Vuelta al País Vasco 
