Welcome to the opening stage of this year's Bayern Rundfahrt! We've got four exciting days ahead of us, starting with today's very long time trial around Freilassing. We're starting this race at the Austrian Border, with today's host city being actually a neighboring village to Salzburg, which is just across the border. So for sure, besides the 11 Germans on the startlist, the sole Austrian present, Brkic, likely wants to pull off a good show as well.
Of course, with almost 50 kilometers of racing against the clock, we're far away from a typical prologue, where you can't really lose a race yet - today you definitely can! It will be the first test of truth, every single man being on his own. At least, the profile isn't too grueling, featuring just some minor hills. And even though there's a small amount of wind (roughly 5km/h coming mostly from the side), we hope it won't influence the result too much.
What's really special - besides the long distance - is that we've got not a single intermediate time check, and with no GPS infrastructure being set up, we'll really just know how well each rider is doing at the very end of the stage.
Before Wallays will soon leave the launch pad and open this race, let's just quickly have a look at today's biggest favorites. The bookies see the specialists Dillier and Kittel high up, together with GC favorite Tenorio. Goncalves, Eastman and Eaton follow in the second group, whereas Nepomnyachsniy, Robert, Pokälä and Balloni should be in the mix, too. Valio with three riders in this shortlist should rock the team standings, with Desigual and UBS not far behind.
But now, let's get the action started!
The second rider at the start is already the first one to consider for today's stage win. Robert is likely to set a first meaningful time - in about an hour or so.
Warbasse and Roglic are among the first who will want to target a good GC result, whereas Verona's focus is purely on the TT stages. Did we already mention Desigual have brought a good team here, on almost all terrains?
While veteran Nibali started his race under cloudy skies, Pokälä (you just gotta love his NC kit, right?) has to head out into the pouring rain. Let's see how this might alter the performances, and if the first riders' gamble of starting early actually plays out...
As expected, Robert has easily left Wallays behind (we can see him under the red kite) and therefore is the first rider to reach the finish line, setting a first mark of 1h03'22". What's his time worth? As we don't have any intermediate times, we'll just have to wait and see...
Steensen, Pomoshnikov and Schelling are among the next contenders, the first for the stage, the latter two for the GC. It's still raining, but the wind has completely gone by now.
Warbasse has almost overtaken Soler, and he finishes with a really good time - just 15" short of Robert! Did the American have such a great day, or is the current best time not that great?
Maybe Olman or Kovalev can give an answer, two pure TT power horses. Or Valio's GC hope, Nepomnyachsniy?
In the meantime, Roglic finishes a rather disappointing 1'24" behind Robert, who still has the lead ahead of Warbasse. But well, the other climbers first need to deliver as well!
Yes, this is Verona (Bib 8) almost overtaking Vinther, who started 6 positions earlier! Of course, the latter isn't really a TT reference, but Verona still had a good ride, finishing 3rd (18" behind). Vinther's deficit? 12'22". Fortunately, no time limit today...
Soon after, Vaquera takes over the red lantern (14'36" back), and would keep it until the end. This just gives a rough idea about what kinds of gaps might be possible even between great and "just" good TT riders.
Nibali, by the way, will definitely not be glad about losing almost two minutes (1'51, 7th position).
One Frenchman is in the lead, two others launch their race: oldie Rolland, and Ivars. On the launch pad is Nazaret, probably the most important domestique for Tenorio, who will be the last to start his race.
Meanwhile, Pokälä sprints across the finish line - and he bests Robert's time by one second! The finnish ITT NC takes the lead - maybe helped by the weather, as the rain has stopped in the meantime.
But Pokälä doesn't even have the time to sit down on the hot seat, as Steensen marks a new best time, being faster by a stunning 24"! 1h02'57" is the new reference time by the Carlsberg rider.
Well, we thought Steensen's time would hold for quite a while now - but we were completely wrong, as Salcone is yet another 3" faster!
So we can probably safely conclude that Robert's strategy of picking an early Bib really didn't pay out, as he should definitely not lose half a minute to Salcone. Well, at least we're set for an interesting - and maybe unpredictable? - race!
Among the next riders to start their race are Padun, one of the main U25 contenders, Giogieri, GC hope of OMV, and local hero Gretsch, having outsider chances for today's stage win.
At the finish line, Pomoshnikov, one of the really good climbers, already falls out of contention for a good GC result, losing 5'30".
Schelling does much better, as he's "just" 1'17" behind, with just Warbasse ahead of him who could match him in the mountains.
Then we have Olman coming in - and the amateur rider definitly crashes everyone's party so far! He's a fantastic 1'10" faster than Salcone, setting the new mark to 1h01'44". Huge ride by him!
Kovalev then makes it a double lead for the amateurs, as he takes 2nd with 56" down.
Mountain goat Garby and Kenyan ITT champion Hussein launch their races soon after, with very different goals today: Limiting the damage vs. winning the stage.
Nepomnyachsniy is the next stage win contender reaching the finish line, and it's a very close race between him and Olman... who remains in the lead, by a mere second! The Kazakh still can be really happy about his performance, as he's by far the best GC contender so far!
Aging star Rolland is the next to attack the best time, which he fails at. But he's comfortably in 3rd place right now, 29" back, setting a good base for a solid GC result.
And yeah, we can see that the rain is back...
Another amateur with high ambitions starts his race, with Christensen being well recognizable in his Danish NC jersey. Rekita is the top favorite for wearing the white jersey tonight - or maybe even the yellow one?
Ivars then crosses the finish line in 4th position (51" back), just to lose this position to Kreuziger a few seconds later. The Czech was 9" faster and will probably be happier with this result than the Frenchman.
Let's look at the current standings:
1.
Olman
1h01'44"
2.
Nepomnyachsniy
+ 1"
3.
Rolland
+ 29"
4.
Kreuziger
+42"
5.
Ivars
+ 51"
6.
Kovalev
+ 56"
7.
Salcone
+ 1'10"
8.
Steensen
+ 1'13"
9.
Pokälä
+ 1'37"
10.
Robert
+ 1'38"
Some of these riders will really curse the weather - wind and rain - as there's not really another explanation for why they've been beaten by usually much slower riders. But, that's bike racing.
But it's for sure a great intermediate result for the amateurs, with them being 1st, 4th and 6th!
The best German climber, Bartl, is launching his race. And we have two more stage contenders on the road now, with Goncalves and Eaton.
By the way, Padun finishes almost 6 minutes down - hard to imagine him winning the U25 standings, especially given there will be another ITT...
Giogieri with a deficit of 5'32" can write off a good GC result, too.
And we have another amateur delivering a very strong race, local hero Pfingsten! Hard to imagine what else than home soil & air could have carried him to currently 9th position (+ 1'31").
But this 9th position is already taken away from him, by the next German - Gretsch. However, his hopes were definitely higher.
Garby, who was almost overtaken by Gretsch, can bid farewell to a good GC result, too, losing 5 minutes today.
Two more climbers on the road with Krasnoperov and Diaz, whith especially the first one having serious GC ambitions. For this, he needs to do really well today, though.
Not that well did Hussein, who is currently 13th at the finish (+ 1'51"). Duarte loses 12 additional seconds, but should probably be happy with his result, as his main speciality are the mountains.
Christensen then splits the German duo of Gretsch and Pfingsten, which currently means 11th position for him.
Then we have the duel for the first white jersey of the race, where Rekita (7th, + 1'05") clearly edges out Cosnefroy (21st, + 2'17") - knowing very well he won't be able to keep that jersey after stage 3. But there's yet a big contender to come today, so let's not give away that jersey too soon...
One of the main stage contenders, Dillier, starts his race and rides past a bakery, while Betilson, the Angolan ITT champion, is already well underways. The same holds for Abal, one of the presumed GC podium contenders.
At the finish line, Domagalski posts the 11th time (1'24" back), but loses this position seconds later to Barbio, who was 7" quicker. German climber Bartl doesn't do quite as well, losing 3'32" and sitting in 37th.
Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a new leader! Goncalves easily beats the reference time, lowering the mark by 14", to now 1h01'30"! That was definitely a great ride by the Portuguese ITT NC, and not many will be able to challenge his time!
There aren't many, indeed, but Eaton is one of them. He fails by 34 seconds, which is currently worth 4th place.
Krasnoperov on the other hand might be rather disappointed with losing 2'30", but he should still have good chances to climb past many of the TT specialists on that mountain stage.
Three more ITT specialists are on the road now, with Cheyne, Cheung and Balloni. Goncalves will have to do quite a bit of nail biting, with all the contenders still to come...
Carapaz will have to do quite a lot of fireworks on the mountain stage, given that he loses almost 4 minutes today.
Swiss ITT champion Dillier was one of the top 3 stage favorites - but doesn't quite live up to these expectations, failing to beat his teammate by 39". A rather underwhelming performance - maybe he should have purchased some bread instead of just riding past the baker's shop...
Before the last rider of each team starts, let's take another look at the intermediate standings:
1.
Goncalves
1h01'30"
2.
Olman
+ 14"
3.
Nepomnyachsniy
+ 15"
4.
Eaton
+ 34"
5.
Dillier
+ 39"
6.
Rolland
+ 43"
7.
Kreuziger
+ 56"
8.
Ivars
+ 1'05"
9.
Kovalev
+ 1'10"
10.
Rekita
+ 1'19"
We still have three amateurs in the Top 10, whereas Robert has slipped down to 19th...
Some more big names starting their race, with three different types of riders: Ratiy will definitely like the climbing part most, and will have to be fast today to not be overtaken by Kittel, starting right behind him. The German is THE top favorite for today's stage, let's see if the home crowd is cheering loud enough. And Izagirre is a better TTer than climber, but can actually do both pretty well.
Three more main GC contenders, with CT dominator Eastman and PCT stage race specialists Shikai and Choi. All of them have quite similar stats - let's find out who has the best legs today!
Reis and top favorite Tenorio are the last GC contenders to launch their race. The Spanish ITT champion is the last to do so, so everyone has finally left the start in Freilassing!
In the meantime, we got some more final times: Betilson is 20th, 1'54" behind, and Abal matches this time, but is some milliseconds back. With almost two minutes lost, this is an OK-ish start for the Kulczyk leader.
Cheyne finishes five seconds behind this duo and is currently 22nd.
Cheung does better, but unlike his first name says, he's still not the King today. 11th position for him, 1'22" behind the still leading Goncalves.
But Balloni steals this 11th position from him, being one second faster. Still not the result both of them had hoped for.
Borisavljevic, the U25 top favorite, does a pretty good race; at least he just loses 37" on Rekita, which currently is 24th overall (+ 1'57").
Now we see Kittel approaching the finish line quite quickly - and he doesn't even make it a tense race, as he is 15" faster than Goncalves! Is 1h01'15" today's winning time?
Ratiy knew beforehand he wouldn't win the stage; with a deficit of 2'14", he does about what could be expected (27th position).
Izagirre is one of the contenders who could challenge Kittel's time - he comes relatively close, but he's still 30" back. 4th place for him currently.
A 4th place that wouldn't last for long, as Eastman is 3 seconds faster, kicking Olman off the stage podium and sitting in 3rd currently.
Shikai had a good race, too, losing just 3 seconds to Eastman. He is 6th, 30" behind Kittel. Already now, I can't wait for that 3rd stage!
This was probably not Choi's best day. He loses a full minute to the GC contenders who arrived just before, being currently 14th (+ 1'33").
Reis can't quite match the pace of Eastman, Izagirre and Choi, either. He sits somewhere "in the middle", losing 1'11" for current 12th place.
And here we have the last stage and GC contender flying towards the finish line - but he didn't fly fast enough to win today! Tenorio comes in 3rd, 19" behind stage winner Marcel Kittel!
Let's take a look at a - partially surprising - stage top 20:
1.
Marcel Kittel
1h01'15"
2.
Jose Goncalves
+ 15"
3.
Justo Tenorio
+ 19"
4.
Ryan Eastman
+ 27"
5.
Miles Olman
+ 29"
6.
Ion Izagirre
+ 30"
7.
Chen Shikai
+ 30"
8.
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
+ 31"
9.
Daniel Eaton
+ 50"
10.
Silvan Dillier
+ 55"
11.
Pierre Rolland
+ 59"
12.
Roman Kreuziger
+ 1'12"
13.
Rafael Reis
+ 1'12"
14.
Sebastien Ivars
+ 1'21"
15.
Ivan Kovalev
+ 1'26"
16.
Ki Ho Choi
+ 1'34"
17.
Szymon Rekita
+ 1'35"
18.
Alfredo Balloni
+ 1'37"
19.
King Lok Cheung
+ 1'38"
20.
Jacob Salcone
+ 1'39"
Marcel Kittel steps up to the podium, to take the congratulations for the stage win, and to put on the yellow and green (actually blue) jerseys.
While he may have some chances to win the green (blue) jersey, the yellow one will definitely change shoulders in two days. But until then, let the home crowd celebrate their star Marcel Kittel!
But who is in the best position to take the race lead after the mountain stage? Well, obviously Tenorio. But Eastman and Shikai aren't far away. Neither are Izagirre and Nepomnyachsniy, but they would need to have a huge day on that stage to keep the others at bay. Reis is the next great climber in the standings, but already almosta a minute behind Tenorio, with Choi having even 20" more to win back. Ivars would probably have needed a better ITT result to be really competitive for the GC. All other climbers have a deficit of more than 2 minutes and will be fighting mainly for the stage win, or for minor GC results.
This may open some room for the rather TT-heavy hybrids, such as Rolland and especially Goncalves, who has delivered a great race today - and may now have Schelling as a super domestique, given the Swiss' result.
As already mentioned during the race, Rekita takes the white jersey, which he'll probably defend tomorrow. He won't win it, though, as he'll need to fight to even survive stage 3. Borisavljevic is clearly in the best position to win this jersey.
UBS are leading the team standings, despite a rather disappointing performance from their TT star Dillier.
Bayern Rundfahrt 
