We’re at the concluding stage of the 2019 Olympia’s Tour and once again, the riders leap on their time trialing bikes. A lot of interesting battles will be fought today, most prominently of course the one for the overall victory. Durbridge, Cornu and Kittel are seperated by just a second, respectively.
While the Top 3 seem entrenched on the podium with an 11 second gap to fourth placed Dillier, a lot of other positions behind them are still in flux - we’ll have a quick reminder of the Top 25 positions when we get to them later. And then there’s also the fight for the white jersey, where Oliveira leads Thomas also by a mere second and Dulanjana might still have a chance 8 seconds off of the Portuguese.
We’ll take our time with this stage, I hope you don’t mind (but let’s face it, most of us don’t have a lot of things to do at the moment). If you’re just here for the battles for the overall and the stage win, feel free to skip to the last few riders, but I want to try and give every team their due. Also, I just, you know, enjoy this
Lastly, an interesting factor today, with just 8,5 kilometers to race, is how much the prologue skills come into play today compared to classic time trialing. Lucky for us, the first rider in the starting box is the perfect litmus test for this:
Sauber has had a pretty bad five days. Having had big ambitions for the sprints, a sixth place was their best result, even missing the Top 10 twice. A good performance by Chavanne could be a somewhat conciliatory ending. But he relies heavily on his short distance punch. We’ll have to wait a little to see how much his time is worth.
10‘14
Nascimento is basically the perfect counterpart - strong on longer time trialist, a pitiful prologue rider. And his time is a very good indication: He loses more than a minute to Chavanne!
11‘19
Amateur team KazMunayGas made the best of their modest means here. They were very active in breaks, getting a 9th place from it yesterday. Their best rider in the GC and best time trialist Oka finishes with a good time, 19 seconds behind Chavanne. Oka was 56th before today and he has a chance to get into the Top 50, depending on the riders coming next. Chavanne is still in the lead, a mere second ahead of Swiss compatriot and teammate Aregger.
10‘33
A bad team time trial ruined any chances for the Desigual leaders to achieve anything of note in the GC. Eaton, 45th overall until now, tries to make the most of today and bests Chavanne by less than a second to take the hot seat.
10‘14
Five riders later, his teammate Verona is on the road. He seems to have a pretty bad day though - 21 seconds slower than Eaton, who passes him the GC. The team's highlight remains a second place by Zabel yesterday.
10‘35
Even more than the Desigual riders, Sterobo was hit badly by the TTT. He was sixth in the opening time trial and will try to achieve a similar result today. His time seems like a good start!
10‘06
One of two Philips riders who came here with ambitions is Van Zandbeek. He finishes on a provisional sixth place.
10‘18
The other is Ligthart. As expected, he’s stronger than his teammate, but falls short of Sterobo. Having started the day in 33rd position, this should be enough to crack the Top 30.
10‘12
Silvestre was solely responsible for Berg Cycles‘ positive moments this week. He finished on the podium twice in sprints; his time today leaves him in the Top 35 of the GC.
10‘23
Van Baarle is CYBEX’s leader. He probably would have liked to be in a better position than 29th overall by this point, but he underscores that he is just not a top tier time trialist again today. The team will still leave happy after yesterday’s stage win, I suppose.
10‘17
Olman disappointed with a 21st place in the opening time trial. He might have been determined to improve today, but it doesn’t show. He even loses a few places and falls behind teammate Kreuziger, who takes his position in the Top 30.
10‘24
We’re in the fight for the white jersey now. Dulanjana would have to have a monster day to make up the 8 seconds he needs. His time is solid, but it doesn’t look spectacular:
10‘20
Kazakh TT champion Fominykh knocks on the door of the Top 20! Provisional second!
10‘12
VIP Mobile had a very good week, I would say. Sorensen made some noise in breakaways and finished 7th yesterday, the team finished fifth in the TTT and has a chance to have two riders in the Top 20! The first is Kovalev. He started the day in 23rd overall; his time isn’t amazing, but the gaps in the GC above him are very small. We’ll see how far he can go.
10‘15
Back to the best young riders: cycleYorkshire has a stage win, the man in the yellow jersey, and the team competition all but wrapped up - and while the overall win is certainly the priority, the white jersey would be the cherry on top. But Thomas loses 8 seconds to Dulanjana, who was 7 seconds behind him.
10‘28
Now it’s up to Oliveira. He gives it everything he’s got … and he’s just 4 seconds behind Dulanjana on the stage. The white jersey remains on the Portuguese’s shoulders!
10‘24
We’re going into the Top 20 now. As these riders will fight for both the stage win and the GC, we’ll follow those battles simultaneously. The column on the left will depict the former and should be pretty self-explanatory, the column on the right lists the latter and while I’ve done this before, here’s a quick primer:
Every rider will be listed with the GC position they’re currently in if every following rider beats their overall time. So if your rider finishes and is listed at position 15, and another rider follows and is listed as 17th, your rider has climbed to 14th. Any rider that finishes atop the GC standings at that moment (colored green) will at the very least keep his position. I hope that makes sense, or it becomes clear as we’re going through it.
The Top 10 for the stage are currently as follows:
And the rear five places in the GC Top 25 at this point with their respective aggregate time are:
21.
Fominykh
14h33‘06
22.
Kovalev
14h33‘08
23.
Oliveira
14h33‘14
24.
Dulanjana
14h33‘18
25.
Thomas
14h33‘19
Sterobo is 7 seconds behind Thomas, having gained 10 spots so far, and he’s just ahead of Van Baarle. Have a quick reminder of the Top 20 before today, and then let’s just jump right in:
Spoiler
1
Luke Durbridge
cycleYorkshire
14h21'54
2
Dominique Cornu
Duolingo
+ 1
3
Marcel Kittel
Valio - Viking Genetics
+ 2
4
Silvan Dillier
Team UBS
+ 13
5
Emilien Viennet
cycleYorkshire
s.t.
6
Ian Stannard
cycleYorkshire
+ 15
7
Jose Goncalves
Team UBS
+ 23
8
Zakkari Dempster
Duolingo
+ 29
9
Artem Ovechkin
cycleYorkshire
s.t.
10
Sebastien Ivars
Team UBS
+ 30
11
Andrew Tennant
cycleYorkshire
+ 33
12
Antonio Barbio
Duolingo
+ 35
13
Matti Manninen
Valio - Viking Genetics
+ 42
14
Jorge Abreu
Team UBS
+ 43
15
Samuel Pokälä
Valio - Viking Genetics
s.t.
16
Shane Archbold
Duolingo
+ 46
17
Michael Schär
Team UBS
s.t.
18
Trond Larsen
Valio - Viking Genetics
+ 48
19
Mikhail Ignatiev
Delvaux
+ 55
20
Michael Faerk Christensen
VIP Mobile
s.t.
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
20.
Fominykh
14h33‘05
…
l
21.
Kovalev
14h33‘07
15.
Christensen
+ 18
l
22.
Christensen
14h33‘13
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
19.
Ignatiev
14h32‘57
2.
Ignatiev
+ 2
l
20.
Fominykh
14h33‘06
3.
Fominykh
+ 6
l
21.
Kovalev
14h33‘08
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
19.
Fominykh
14h33‘06
…
l
20.
Kovalev
14h33‘08
24.
Larsen
+ 24
l
21.
Larsen
14h33‘12
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
17.
Ignatiev
14h32‘57
…
l
18.
Schär
14h33‘01
15.
Schär
+ 15
l
19.
Fominykh
14h33‘06
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
23.
Dulanjana
14h33‘18
…
l
24.
Thomas
14h33‘19
37.
Archbold
+ 39
l
25.
Archbold
14h33‘25
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
18.
Kovalev
14h33‘08
…
l
19.
Larsen
14h33‘12
31.
Pokälä
+ 30
l
20.
Pokälä
14h33‘13
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
14.
Abreu
14h32‘57
…
l
15.
Ignatiev
14h32‘57
15.
Abreu
+ 14
l
16.
Schär
14h33‘01
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
13.
Manninen
14h22‘55
…
l
14.
Abreu
14h22‘57
15.
Manninen
+ 13
l
15.
Ignatiev
14h32‘57
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
12.
Manninen
14h22‘55
…
l
13.
Barbio
14h22‘55
23.
Barbio
+ 20
l
14.
Abreu
14h22‘57
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
11.
Tennant
14h22‘46
…
l
12.
Manninen
14h22‘55
15.
Tennant
+ 13
l
13.
Barbio
14h22‘55
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
10.
Ivars
14h32‘37
…
l
11.
Tennant
14h22‘46
4.
Ivars
+ 7
l
12.
Manninen
14h22‘55
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
9.
Ivars
14h32‘37
…
l
10.
Tennant
14h22‘46
23.
Ovechkin
+ 19
l
11.
Ovechkin
14h22‘48
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
8.
Dempster
14h32‘33
2.
Ignatiev
+ 2
l
9.
Ivars
14h32‘37
3.
Dempster
+ 4
l
10.
Tennant
14h22‘46
Stage
GC
1.
Sterobo
10’06
l
13.
Abreu
14h22‘57
…
l
14.
Ignatiev
14h32‘57
42.
Goncalves
+ 34
l
15.
Goncalves
14h22‘57
Stage
GC
1.
Stannard
10’05
l
6.
Stannard
14h32‘14
2.
Sterobo
+ 1
l
7.
Dempster
14h32‘33
3.
Ignatiev
+ 3
l
8.
Ivars
14h32‘37
Stage
GC
1.
Stannard
10’05
l
5.
Stannard
14h32‘14
2.
Sterobo
+ 1
l
6.
Viennet
14h32‘14
3.
Viennet
+ 2
l
7.
Dempster
14h32‘32
Stage
GC
1.
Dillier
10’03
l
4.
Dillier
14h32‘10
2.
Stannard
+ 2
l
5.
Stannard
14h32‘14
3.
Sterobo
+ 3
l
6.
Viennet
14h32‘14
Stage
GC
1.
Dillier
10’03
l
3.
Kittel
14h32‘00
2.
Kittel
+ 1
l
4.
Dillier
14h32‘10
3.
Stannard
+ 2
l
5.
Stannard
14h32‘14
Stage
GC
1.
Dillier
10’03
l
2.
Kittel
14h32‘00
…
l
3.
Cornu
14h32‘01
5.
Cornu
+ 3
l
4.
Dillier
14h32‘10
Stage
GC
1.
Durbridge
10’01
l
1.
Durbridge
14h31'55
2.
Dillier
+ 2
l
2.
Kittel
14h32‘00
3.
Kittel
+ 3
l
3.
Cornu
14h32‘01
The Olympia’s Tour ends with a deserved victory for Durbridge, who won both individual time trials. After second and third place last year and another second the year before, cycleYorkshire takes the win they so anticipated. They also finish with 5 (!) riders in the Top 10.
Duolingo’s mishap, having him finish sixth and thus losing two seconds, costs Cornu the second place, but he stays on the podium, which I assume he would have been very happy with pre-race. Kittel takes second not least on the back of a strong Valio team time trial.
Olympia’s Tour 
