The opening time trial is upon us. It’s 17 kilometers long and mostly flat, except for around 2,5 kilometers at a modest 3,5% incline. Don’t expect that to make much of a difference. This is already an incredibly important stage for the GC, as it’s the longer of the two individual time trials. Last year, Marlen Zmorka took the overall lead here and never gave it back - let’s see who’s trying to follow in his footsteps:
Last year’s third place finisher Viennet is the sixth rider on the road. His time will be the one that other GC riders will be measured against. We also get the feeling for how big the time gaps today can be, as he beats Schär, who is a pretty decent time trialist, by 31 seconds.
20‘53
Pokälä overtakes the rider ahead of him as he crosses the finish line, but he’s a good bit short of Viennet’s best time and even behind Schär.
21‘26
Ligthart was expected to be the first rider to come closer. But he is in the same ball park as the riders mentioned above. Good enough for second at this point, but that probably won’t last long.
21‘22
Olman was considered in a similar tier to Ligthard, and indeed, he finishes with the exact same time.
21‘22
Tying Pokälä’s time, Van Zandbeek is in the provisional Top 10.
21‘26
Sprinting towards the finish line is Kovalev, and he’s the new second place. Still more than 20 seconds behind Viennet though, who seems to have had a really good ride.
21‘14
A surprise at this point is Ivars. Jumping Kovalev, he’s currently second!
21‘07
The next team leader on the road is Van Baarle. He does reasonably well, quicker than Olman, slower than Kovalev.
21‘18
The next of the cycleYorkshire TT armada is last year’s 8th pace Tennant. He is third at the moment, still behind Ivars.
21‘11
Europcar time trialing specialist Sterobo has to have a good day if he wants to attack in the GC, as his team is one of the weakest for the TTT. And he does! He’s by far the closest to Viennet at this time, just two seconds slower.
20‘55
He’ll have nothing to do with the outcome of this stage, but Oliveira’s time is enough to take the white jersey at the end of the day.
21‘35
Dempster, first of the two Duolingo leaders, finishes provisional fifth.
21‘14
Portuguese champion Goncalves has a great ride and jumps to third.
21‘02
One of the top favorites not only for today but for the GC is Kittel. He tied Viennet’s time at the checkpoint, and then found another gear. He sets the new best time, overtaking not one but two riders in the process.
20‘45
Verona was looking at an outside shot at the Top 10, but that time’s probably not good enough.
21‘15
Ovechkin has the same goal, and he comes a bit closer, tying his teammate Tennant.
21‘11
Duolingo’s second top time trialist is Cornu. He, too, tied Kittel and Viennet at the checkpoint. And the Belgian champ was just as fast as Kittel on the rest of the course, setting a new best time by just a second!
20‘44
Kazakh champ Fominykh cannot replicate his teammate Ivars‘ good result, his time won’t even be enough for the Top 25 today.
21‘31
With Viennet in third and Tennant in seventh, Stannard tries to improve the result for cycleYorkshire. But he is a few seconds slower than his French teammate. Provisional fifth just behind Sterobo.
20‘57
Dillier won the Chrono d’Arenberg a few weeks ago and he’s trying to add another win here. His time is enough to just barely push Viennet from the podium for now, but he’s a few seconds short of Cornu and Kittel.
20‘52
Christensen beats his teammate Kovalev by three seconds, but both finish in the Top 15, a good result for VIP Mobile.
21‘11
The last hope for cycleYorkshire to have a rider on the podium at the end of the day is Durbridge. And he delivers! New best time, two seconds ahead! And not a lot of riders left who could beat him now.
20‘42
Not likely to beat Durbridge, but looking for a decent result is Eaton. But the American doesn’t have the best of days and ends up in the 20s.
21‘26
Archbold is in a similar situation and another few seconds slower.
21‘32
Really the only vaguely realistic option to kick Durbridge from the top step is Ignatiev. He rides a solid race, but far off anything resembling a best time.
21‘02
The final rider of note is Silvestre. As one of the top sprinters, he was a long shot for a decent GC positions with a combination of average time trialing and a few bonus seconds. He loses more than a minute today, which puts him 28 seconds behind the Top 20. A total of 60 seconds are up for grabs in the sprints, but there are also two more time trials, of course.