Stage 9 sees the next time trial and once again a pretty mountaineous one. First 2/3 being pretty flat, which makes a good TT skill absolutely needed today. But then the climbers surely be happy to see around 10km uphill which surely will limit their loss against the allrounders.
Top favourite clearly must be Gesink alongside Spilak. It really depends how much first can gain before the climb and not lose then on the uphill.
Herklotz, Haig, Hirt being bets for a good day.
Being a TT Leung was named as well and obviously he has the best time early on being within the first 3 starters but we will see soon how much this is worth.
In comparison to J.Schleck, a decent climber but very weak time trialist, it`s interesting. Leung was more than 5min faster in the end. Though 8 min were on the flat and then losing 3min on the climb.
Geoghegan Hart being the first allrounder. Not that good anywhere but decent. And he shows so by being 3min faster than the others, which right now was Bekmanis and Leung.
He actually just lost 1'33 on the flat in comparison to Leung but then nailed it on the uphill.
Ciccone a bit later in 2nd with +37s and Koep with a new best being 22s faster than the Brit but also soon beaten by 5s from Powless, who must have had a huge day.
Slowly we move towars some outside favourites. Dees being one of those. Clearly in need of a very great day in the climb. For now it`s enough though. Being 20s faster than recent hot seat Uwizeyimana. Then Powless, Koep, Stüssi, Benito.
Though very quickly another Dutch beating him as well. Dekker wa a bit slower on the flat but then climbed a lot faster being 45s in the lead s we enter the GC`s top50.
Tvetcov 18s slower next.
Goos 12s slower following quickly afterwards. So some more outside shots before the better climbers start.
Dennis deserves a mention but only reaching the finish line 1'05 behind Dekker, while Novikov and Kolesnikov both just a bit ahead of him as well now while Kangert is having a decent ride as 4th 18s down.
But let`s finally start with the GC riders for a top10. Alarcon not only one of the weakest in the hills, no also the weakest top 10-15 contender against the clock.
This shows in especially on the flat part, where he already is 2'18 behind.
Though this is behind Malori`s time, who was best of the flat. Still quite a bit slower than some decent climbers as well.
Next up a direct duel. Olivier
lost just a little bit less than Alarcon and is under big pressure from Quintana, who was more than 1min faster on the flat and now is about to pass him on the climb.
Schleck never was a top time trialist but used to gain back in the mountains. Not as easy anymore, in especially not when Spilak and Herklotz are the opponents. Decent ride so far though. Just 1'13 slower than Malori!
Yates with a similar ride. Just 10s slower than Schleck so far while Formolo has lost another 30s. Still quite a bit faster than e.g. Olivier as very similar rider.
Konig with a decent ride so far. Similar as Schleck but now on the part, where he might lose a bit while Henao Montoya can be pretty happy with his first sectors being in for a stage top10.
Haig has gained 1min on Henao and is almost up to him but on the climb the gap might extend again. Still with a shot to take the lead from Dekker clearly.
Hirt with a mediocre first part. Not too bad but he can better. The climb will show if his legs really aren`t good today.
Gesink hammered almost a new best on the flat. Just 4s off Malori`s time, which shows his motivation to win the stage. He was not as good in the hills and basically was just up there without the stage results. Today though he is on winning course.
Zardini with a very weak flat and as one of the weakest climbers remaining, he will definitely lose massive today.
Spilak already passed him with the full climb remaining. In comparison to Gesink he has lost 36s. Will he be able to gain this time on the climb to win the stage?
Herklotz lost another 22s making it 58s to Gesink.
Surely not impossible neither but more an outside chance now.
Let`s check for the flat check at 2/3 of the stage.
Malori taking the win down there with Gesink and Haig being strongest of the climbers.
Quintana, Hirt and Schleck with actually really good times then and Herklotz actually a bit below expectations maybe.
The duel of the later top10 so far is won by Yates in 27th clearly beating Bongiorno in 36th, Formolo in 46th and in especially Olivier in 49th who is having a weak showing here. Alarcon just behind that piccture.
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Quite a few riders come towards the finish but neither Oomen, Lunke, Bongiorno or Kruijswijk are able to beat Dekker`s time, who clearly was on good legs.
Lunke actually still closest being just 8s down while Oomen at incredible 1'29 and Bongiorno decent on +28 with a very good ride actually seeing his weak TT skills.
In fact he does beat Alarcon by 3s today! So the Repsol rider having gained quite a bit to limit his loss but not as much to really gain back.
Quintana then the first to beat Dekker. And quite easy to be honest. 1'12 faster making it 1'41 to Bongiorno, 1'33 to Alarcon. Very impressive.
Olivier lost even more in the end. 2'30 for him and really on a bad form today.
Schleck looked pretty good on the flat but not as good as Quintana. 2nd for him but 32s down!
Yates soon afterwrads coming in as 9th just between Bongiorno and Alarcon, who are within 3s now. Clearly lost a bit on the climbing here but very decent still.
Same goes for Formolo. 2'17 in the end, losing on quite a few but not a time trial specialist and still gaining on some better climbers such as Olivier or not losing a lot to Yates.
Konig then coming in as 6th and +1'26. He moves ahead of the Alarcon trio with a decent performance.
Dekker and Lunke still 3 and 4 with clearly overperformances so far with Goos last of the actual top5.
Henao Montoya continues having a very good race not showing weaknesses on the hills and performing well on the TTs. 3rd for him 1'08 behind Quintana and 36s behind Schleck.
Haig though quickly beats him and in fact also Quintana and Schleck. New best time and after a great prologue he shines again gaining big time on direct rivals.
23s faster than Quintana, which makes it more than 2min now to Yates/Bongiorno and almost 3 min to Formolo/Olivier.
Hirt is losing 51s to him, which makes him finish in 3rd just 3s ahead of Schleck.
Gesink though making quick progress and will be the next on the hot seat.
35s ahead of Haig, which means, he gained 20s on the climb additionally to the 10s on the flat. Will such climbing performance be enough to defend the advantage over Spilak?
Yes, it is. Spilak being 2nd over the line but still 25s off, which means, he was just ~10s faster than Gesink. Surely this small "flat" part in the middle of the climb helps the better time trialists again as a steady 10km climb would have led to more time gaps towards the climbers.
Herklotz as well can`t beat them and in fact comes in as 4th also beaten by Haig. 55s in the end just 3s off Quintana.
Not the Germans best day surely but still strong enough to beat most other riders.
Zardini in the background also passed by the second rider, who started behind him. Losing 5'15 on the day clerly was a bad leg day. So maybe Aegon today showed first signs of exhaustment working for Vesely? Well, Dekker at least doesn`t think so and neither was Haig struggling for Bennelong.
GC wise it`s very close now. Gesink takes the lead by 3s only over Spilak with Herklotz following 15s later.
Haig up to 4th being the last under 1min and Quintana as 5th.
Schleck at 1'50 already also behind Hirt while Alarcon sits in 15th and +4'23 already.
