A short prologue - that's exactly the reason why Chavanne was sent here, and he's the bookies top favorite as well. With Andersen and Dennis, there's some strong competition, though. Stoltz, Yatsevich and Hamza are next on the list, and then we already get one of the GC contenders: Bobridge, who gets one star, along with Ignatiev, Laengen and Predatsch.
Now let's see who's off to a great start, and who will already need to claw back a few seconds on the next days! We'll provide coverage for all riders who do well today, and for the Top 26 in the GC favorites list of the preview.
Videika is the first to set a time: 6'48". Meanwhile, Vassdal is ready on the launch pad in the background.
As expected, this time wouldn't hold for long, as Pszczolarski might even deserve the label "prologue specialist". He lowers the reference time by 17 seconds, to 6'31".
Van Aert is already under the red kite at the same time, while you can see the Ponte 25 de Abril in the background. At the finish line, he is another 4 seconds faster: 6'27".
Schir isn't known to be a specialist for this type of races, and so he loses 6 seconds for provisional 3rd. That's just 2" off the 2nd place, though. It's a solid start for the number 19 on our GC favorites list.
I wasn't able to figure out what statue that is in Vassdal's background, but it definitely didn't hinder his performance: 2nd place for him, only 2 seconds down.
Omarsson gets rather close, too, but losing 7 seconds currently means provisional 5th place.
Two GC contenders (numbers 25 and 26) here, but more interesting for today is the man in the middle.
First, wen see Ilnur Zakarin crossing the finish line, riding towards that aforementioned statue. He surely won't be too pleased with his 22" deficit. 7th place for him.
His brother Aydar Zakarin does much better today, as expected - 8" back, which is worth a provisional 6th place.
Vosekalns is known not to like this kind of competition, and that shows. 31" lost today, 18th place so far - out of 19. Only Venter currently is one second behind him.
High quality GC contenders here, and two of them aren't too bad at prologues, either.
First, Tvetcov gets 5th place, 6" back, just fractions behind Schir on P4.
Then, we get the duel of the two presumed main contenders for the U25 standings. First, we have Padun, who still lacks some TT/prologue skills. And that shows, as he loses 28 seconds on these 5 kilometers. I hope the dark clouds coming from the ocean aren't a bad omen for his race.
Oh, when speaking of omen - or rather Oomen - here he is, and the favorite for the white jersey does much better. He is 8th, losing 8".
I've got no clue why Team UBS decided to let Spengler start last - maybe they've got a weather forecast we don't have? All we know is that Schelling's already on the road now, here just after the U-turn. He's one of the GC Top 5 contenders, and he launches his race rather well: 9th place so far, 9 seconds back.
Just about to ride through said U-turn is Sepulveda, who's surely looking forward to the hilly stages. But why not get a great result today? The time's looking good, very good! The reference still stands at 6'27", and the Argentine only has a few meters left... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" ... 6'25" ... 6'26" - we've got a new leader! Sepulveda beats Van Aert's time by a mere second and takes the hot seat. Great start for him!
And that's a rather surprising performance - so surprising we only got to take a glimpse of Korosec after the finish line! He matches Oomen's time and is provisionally 10th.
Uh-oh, it's started raining as local hero Vilela reaches the finish line - and narrowly misses out on a provisional Top 10. 11th, 11" down.
But Vlasov takes over 11th place soon after, being just a few milliseconds faster.
Thomas is riding for a team that's known to be strong against the clock - and so is he: He loses 7 seconds, which is enough for 5th place.
It's time for two of the bookies' stage favorites. First goes Predatsch, and he seems to live up to this role. But it'll be a close race for first: 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" ... 6'25" ... 6'26" ... 6'27" ... the clock finally stops at 6'30", 4 seconds slower than Sepulveda. This 4th place surely must be a slight disappointment for him.
Morne Van Niekerk wasn't on the favorites list, but he seems to be moving fast, too! 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" ... 6'25" ... 6'26" ... 6'27" - he misses out on the best time by a tiny second, which is worth a provisional 2nd place! Well done! And beating Van Aert means he's the best young rider so far.
Then comes Stoltz, who was one of the pre-stage Top 5 - and he's looking really well, too! 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" - that's a new best time! Two seconds below the old one, a great performance by the Luxembourger!
We've talked about cycleYorkshire's great TT reputation - but of course, there's such a team as well in PT, and it's Bennelong. Roe seems to live up to the expectations, as he closes in on the finish line... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" ... 6'25" ... 6'26" ... 6'27" - that's 3 seconds short of the best time, which is provisional 4th place, between Morne Van Niekerk and Van Aert, who posted the same time.
Manulang performs quite well, too, matching Tvetcov's time, which is 10 seconds down. 12th place for the Indonesian ITT champion.
A time that Moscon misses by just a few milliseconds. 13th place for the Italian.
Well, there's another strong TT team, which is Grieg. They already have Vassdal still in 6th position, and with Laengen there's one of the stage's one-star favorites coming in now. And he's coming fast! Really fast! 6'18" ... 6'19" ... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" ... 6'25" - that was close! He narrowly misses Stoltz' best time, by just a tiny second! That's a provisional 2nd place for him, though, and he certainly delivered today!
The same can be said of Kneisky, although to a slightly lesser extent. 7th place for him, 5 seconds down, just fractions ahead of Vassdal.
And this one's rather a surprise again, so he's been caught by our cameras only after the finish line: Siriwardena posts the 10th time of the day so far, matching Predatsch in 9th, with 6 seconds lost on the best time.
As not much happens in between, we already have the next Grieg rider, still under pouring rain. But maybe Korsaeth has some marine ancestors, as the water doesn't seem to bother him... 6'18" ... 6'19" ... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" - that's the fastest time so far! He beats Stoltz by less than a second, actually, and takes the lead! And he definitely proved the bookies wrong, who ignored him on their favorites list. Big race!
Local hero Fernandes posts a good time, too, as he only loses 7" to the new best time. 12th place for him.
Meanwhile, Kirsch, who certainly aspires to a Top 10 GC result, is preparing to launch his race. A race that he'd eventually finish 6'32" after he left the launch pad, meaning a 9 second deficit and provisional 16th place. Certainly a good start for him, the only GC contender ahead of him so far being Sepulveda, who was 4" faster.
Well, some spectators definitely have found a great place here, as they see Konig riding through the U-turn. His final time then is much less spectacular, as he loses 11". That may seem little, but it's only 24th place right now. It's just 2 seconds behind Kirsch, though, so definitely no big deal, given the next 10 days' difficulties.
Wow, that's a rider found nowhere on any favorites list, but Boudat is in fact attacking the best time! 6'18" ... 6'19" ... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" ... 6'25" - that's just two seconds short of the fastest time, and provisional 5th place for the Frenchman - quite a surprise! And that would currently even be worth the white jersey!
Meyer is kind of a lucky guy, as the rain has stopped just as he leaves the launch pad. He quite much lives up to the expectations, but it's not enough to challenge the fastest today. 9th place for him, being only 4 seconds down.
We're done with slightly more than half of the race, so it seems to be a good moment to look at the current standings:
1.
Korsaeth
6'23"
6.
Morne Van Niekerk
+ 3"
2.
Stoltz
+ 0"
7.
Roe
+ 3"
3.
Laengen
+ 1"
8.
Van Aert
+ 4"
4.
Sepulveda
+ 2"
9.
Meyer
+ 4"
5.
Boudat
+ 2"
10.
Kneisky
+ 5"
Hamza got two stars by the bookies - meaning he'll definitely be disappointed by his result. Losing 6 seconds seems to be OK, but that's currently just 13th place. Not a good race by the Algerian ITT champion.
And he even almost another spot soon after, as Gallopin matches his time - but is a few milliseconds slower. 14th place for him, but he'll definitely be happier with the result than the former.
Godoy is here for the GC, but the stages against the clock are not his strength. He more or less limits the damage, losing 23". This places him outside the Top 50 - which was expected, to be honest. His time will (hopefully) come later in the race.
You may ask, why does a rider deserve to be pictured alone, whereas all others so far had to share their picture with two others.
Well, time will tell. His time, actually. It is fast. Really fast. Really very fast. It's 4 seconds faster than anything we've seen so far - the new best time is 6'19"! What a dominant ride by Dennis, one of today's top favorites! The remaining ones are definitely challenged now!
The next prologue specialist out on the road is Golovash. He does rather well, losing 5" on 2nd place - therefore 9" in total. 12th place for him.
A few seconds better does Dulanjana. To be precise, he's only 6" behind Dennis, which is currently worth 7th place. He loses the U25 duel against Boudat by a few fractions of a second.
Ji is another GC contender with really high hopes - but he definitely can't put his hope in his TT strength. He loses 18" on the best time - which is 12" to teammate Sepulveda, still sitting in 5th. The latter is ranked higher in our preview - who will actually be the team's leader?
Next are three GC contenders, none of which is among the best prologue riders.
First comes Bongiorno, who actually does a really good job, losing just 13", which is even worth a provisional Top 30. And he's 5 seconds faster than Ji just before.
Next is the local team's biggest hope, Chiarello. His time of 6'37" - 18" back - confirms that Bongiorno really had a good day, as the Brazilian should usually perform better.
Bennett must be longing for long, steep slopes, too, as these flat races against the clock are none of his favorites. He loses rather big today, 33" - which barely allows him to get into the Top 100 even right now.
And yet some more GC riders, with Moazemi coming first. Losing 21" on the current best time should be fine for him, 55th place so far. By the way, the rain has come back now - hopefully the remaining stage favorites don't have an issue with that!
Carthy seems to take it easy, given that he's "only" a domestique, and he doesn't have any real TT/prologue skills anyway. Losing 37" currently means 119th place - just about 20 riders have done worse so far.
Brenes exactly matches Moazemi's time - 21" down, 56th place.
There are only two riders per team left - so it's time to take a look at the standings again. Not much has happened - except that we have a clear leader now.
1.
Dennis
6'19"
5.
Boudat
+ 6"
1.
Korsaeth
+ 4"
6.
Morne Van Niekerk
+ 7"
3.
Stoltz
+ 4"
7.
Roe
+ 7"
4.
Laengen
+ 5"
8.
Van Aert
+ 8"
5.
Sepulveda
+ 6"
9.
Meyer
+ 8"
Chavanne, Andersen and Yatsevich have yet to ride, though!
We have Carapaz arriving at the finish line next - and he does well! He limits the loss to just 10", which is even a provisional Top 20 (16th)!
He should however lose a spot soon, as Chavanne is flying through the rain. Or is he rather swimming? In either case, it's by far not what he should have delivered. A 6 second deficit is only good for a provisional 8th place - has he ever done worse in a prologue recently?
Buchmann is next. He's not a great time trialist, either, so to see him losing 23" must be rather positive - we've seen much worse by other contenders!
We have another prologue specialist in Kalaba. He's at least very well visible with his flashy lime kit - but it's not just looking good, he posts a good time as well: 8" down, provisional 12th place.
Much more is however expected from the next rider, which is Andersen. His teammates are 2nd and 4th so far - can he even improve on this result? The clock's ticking... 6'17" ... 6'18" ... 6'19" ... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" - he matches Stoltz' time, which is worth the 4th place so far, and he's currently the best U25 rider. 2nd, 4th, 5th - a great team result for Grieg!
Talansky is another GC contender, but one who keeps up rather well with the specialists. 11" lost on Dennis, that's the 23rd place. Not many climbers or puncheurs were faster so far.
Here comes Russian ITT champion Yatsevich, the last serious contender for the stage win. However, the win really seems to be out of reach today - but can he at least secure a stage podium? 6'18" ... 6'19" ... 6'20" ... 6'21" ... 6'22" ... 6'23" ... 6'24" - no, he misses the podium by a mere second. 6th place for him currently. He'll have another shot on the last day - if he survives the mountain stage.
Meintjes will certainly survive the mountains - he'll even try to get some great results out of these stages. Last year's runner-up loses 18 seconds today, which is worth a 63th place.
We went one TT level down from Yatsevich to Meintjes, and we lower the bar again, as Preidler is one of the worst in said discipline. He takes a 35" handicap from this stage.
And as Ignatiev (24th, 11" back) didn't perform as expected, we directly jump over to the last 3 Bibs:
Bobridge is by far the best time trialist out of this remaining trio. His legs seem to be quite good already, as he only loses 6" to his winning teammate, matching Sepulveda's time. 11th place for him. He should have a decent chance of taking the leader jersey after one of the hilly stages in the next few days, being one of the Top 3 puncheurs here.
Slightly less strong against the clock is Monsalve, but losing 20" is definitely not the end of the world for him. His trump card stage is the second-to-last one - he just shouldn't lose too much time to the likes of Bobridge by then.
And finally, the race is closed by Bakelants. He loses 28" - meaning 22 seconds on Bobridge, so more than just the bonus for a stage win. Still, given his much better climbing, he's got a good chance to some day claim the leader jersey, too.
Well, that's it. As the stage win contenders were scattered all over the start list, but not really in the end, the end of the race was kind of lame. Nevertheless, let's honor the dominant performance by Rohan Dennis, winning this stage in style. Congratulations to Bennelong - Mitchelton!
Let's mention as well the huge team result by Grieg - Maersk: 2nd Korsaeth, 4th Andersen, 5th Laengen. Of course, that's the lead in the team standings - however, only due to their great stage ranks, as Bennelong has got exactly the same total time.
Of the GC contenders, Sepulveda and Bobridge got the best result today, losing 6 seconds each. But we're definitely set for a great race with so many strong riders!
Let's look at today's Top 20 (times have been rounded by the officials and may differ from the ones reported previously):
1.
Rohan Dennis
6'19"
11.
Jack Bobridge
+ 7"
2.
Truls Engen Korsaeth
+ 4"
12.
Morne Van Niekerk
+ 8"
3.
Yannick Stoltz
+ 5"
13.
Timothy Roe
+ 8"
4.
Soren Kragh Andersen
+ 5"
14.
Wout Van Aert
+ 8"
5.
Vegard Stake Laengen
+ 6"
15.
Cameron Meyer
+ 9"
6.
Kiril Yatsevich
+ 6"
16.
Dusan Kalaba
+ 9"
7.
Eduardo Sepulveda
+ 7"
17.
Morgan Kneisky
+ 10"
8.
Thomas Boudat
+ 7"
18.
Oleksandr Golovash
+ 10"
9.
Sachin Dulanjana
+ 7"
19.
Ken Sebastian Vassdal
+ 10"
10.
Gabriel Chavanne
+ 7"
20.
Kevin Predatsch
+ 11"
Now, let's head over to the victory ceremony, where Dennis is about to start his almost one-man-show.
Well, we can actually be glad that no Indosat rider is wearing this yellow-red jersey, as it'd be hard to differentiate from their usual one.
For the moment, it's Rohan Dennis who will wear it after a great show today. As he's not too bad on the hills, he might keep it for some more days, but teammate Bobridge and other strong puncheurs are not far away. Everything is of course still wide open, as it should be after a prologue.
Dennis got the stage win, the yellow-red jersey, and the green jersey.
The first white jersey goes to Soren Kragh Andersen, who edged out Thomas Boudat by 2 seconds. Sachin Dulanjana is 3rd.
As mentioned before, the lead in the team standings belongs to Grieg - Maersk, who are on par with Bennelong - Mitchelton, but the cumulated stage ranks are much better. Team Tinkoff is 3rd, losing already 17" on this prologue.
And that's all for today! Tomorrow's flat rated stage features a nasty climb and a short but steep bump not far from the finish line - stay tuned for a probably hectic stage!
Volta a Portugal 
