The final stage of the 2020 Giro d'Italia and we have a 15,5km individual time trial in Verona with a small hill at around half time.
GC wise Spilak is having a rather comfortable gap but then again it`s just 47s to Herklotz and you never know. Stage wise the Slovenien though should be the stronger one here on paper.
Gesink in 3rd, Schleck in 4th, Hirt in 5th and even Yates in 6th look all rather safe with more than a minute in both directions.
The fight for 7th is interesting again:
Alarcon is just 11s ahead of Olivier, who is having 22s to Kruijswijk and easily the best time trialist Haig another 18s behind.
Formolo following only 4s later though is not really a favourite to improve seeing his TT skills.
So that`s couple of riders for the late top10 spots here while Bongiorno/Konig fight for 12th with Henao Montoya being outside favourite for this.
Not a lot of other close fights in the top spots.
Right now Tanel Kangert is leading the race with a 2s gap over Lunke/Dekker/Tvetcov.
Goos +3, Dees +9, Oomen +22, Dennis +27 as comparison.
We immediately jump into the fight for the top spots and see Haig taking the new best time on top of the hill.
So far he was excellent in the time trials and justifies his top10 result here, which he will most likely defend and actually with good chances to improve even as Formolo was slower than him.
Gazelle though has another rider up there with great allrounder skills. Kruijswijk easily is THE surprise of the Giro 2020 and even though he showed GT skills before, this must be his biggest race yet.
He started as 9th but has lost 23s to Haig on the top, which is already 5s more than he had to lose. Virtual swap and down to 10th for him ahead of his team mate Formolo still!
Olivier as 8th has a gap of 40s to Haig, which is surely not impossible for the Aussie neither. He must be motivated though as 11s to Alarcon are neither.
He comes up as 12th fastest which is 22s down on Haig so far.
Alarcon next showed a very similar start. A bit slower on the flat than Olivier but then a bit faster climbing.
It results in being 7th just 13s down and most important for Repsol, gaining on Olivier.
He was too fast for the camera. Haig goes through the finish and takes the lead as he used to already on the other TTs but then was beaten by the late riders.
Henao Montoya being 2nd right now after a solid TT just 6s down while Kangert, who led earlier was 12s slower but is looking good for a decent stage result just like Lunke, Dekker or Tvetcov.
Kruijswijk has lost the fight for 9th and will drop as he is 28s slower than Haig. Still a very good ride today and in general obviously. He remains in the top10 finishing ahead of his team mate Formolo, who is then followed by Bongiorno and Henao Montoya. Just 2s between those two with the Festina rider being the lucky one.
Konig down to 13th ahead of Quintana to complete the top15. Surely some disappointing GC results for in especially the Colombians and South Americans in total including Alarcon as well.
Olivier showed a solid race but mainly shined in the last two mountain stages which moved him into the top10 after having quite a bit of time to gain back after the TT earlier. Coming in as 9th right now is a great TT just 26s down. This means, he will remain ahead of Haig and putting pressure on Alarcon. 7th or 8th for him?
The Dutch clearly had a good Giro here with him and Kruisjwijk in the top10 alongside Goos` KoM win!
Alarcon surely only had the absolute minimum after the first 14-16 days of rather weak riding. Just like Olivier he climbed into the top10 late only but it was too late for more than 7th.
At least he keeps this spot as he was 6s faster than the Aegon rider and goes into provisional 8th of the day.
Back to the hill. Gesink just passed this point and takes the new best. It won`t change the GC for him but another stage surely fits anytime.
Herklotz though surprises then beating this time. By 7s!
He seems to be on a mission not giving up yet and trying to reach the impossible.
Spilak though not being slow neither and while losing on the German, he remains in the GC lead easily as he is just 1s slower! Even the stage win is still possible.
Gesink over the finish line and it`s the expected new best time!
14s faster than Haig.
But actually Hirt was totally forgotten, which I am very sorry about.
The Czech came over the line just couple of seconds ago and was the short virtual stage leader being 10s slower than Gesink only! Really good Giro by him.
Schleck meanwhile also in the finish with a kind of invisible showing. 31s slower than Gesink just outside the top10 in the end today but obviously keeping his 4th in the GC.
Herklotz beats Gesink in todays TT. Excellent performance by the German. 13s faster in the end. It is some incredible scoring by him with the points and youth jersey, 2nd in GC, 10th in the mountains and several stage wins and results. Proabably the best scoring rider this Giro.
The GC winner though is Spilak, who had this one excellent performance in the early mountains and never allowed to gain this back.
He is losing 7s today coming in 2nd (again) but he remains 40s ahead in general and crowns himself. Very well done, huge congrats to Isostar!
