The Tour de l’Avenir starts with a quick prologue, although decent time gaps are still possible on these 6.4 kilometers. Favorites for today include time trialiers Ganna, Ivo Oliveira and Scotson, GC contenders Gidich and Powless as well as Kalaba, one of the top sprinters with a strong affinity for prologues.
There’s one short section today with a gradient of up to 7.6% where riders have to come out of the saddle. Here’s Zakaria, who is the first rider with a respectable time today.
8’37
A few moments later, Yamamoto misses that mark by two seconds, a small surprise.
8’39
Sivakov is one of two Aegon-Tinkoff riders with GC ambitions here. He does well but comes short of the best time by fractions of a second.
8’37
An actual new best time then comes from Penko by three seconds.
8’34
One of the top favorites for the stage is on the road early. Scotson pushes up that slope and is rewarded with the hot seat!
8’31
Petelin is one of Euskaltel’s GC hopefuls but he leaves today with a decently sized deficit, losing more than half a minute to the current leader Scotson.
9’06
Razumov is the closest to the Australian so far, just one second slower.
8’32
Norsgaard may have had ambitions for today but he can’t deliver. Not even in the provisional Top 10.
8’42
Swiss top talent Mäder has a very nice day and finishes provisional fifth.
8’37
Another co-favorite for the day impresses: Ivo Oliveira takes the lead!
8’30
After three riders from every team have finished, this is the provisional leaderboard. A trio has seperated themselves from the rest, behind them it’s all very close.
Sprinter Larsen has strong legs today, finishing fifth for now.
8’35
Kämna is much less succesful, a bit behind expectations.
8’47
Beniusis does decently well and breaks into the current Top 10.
8’36
Schäppi comes incredibly close, just a second slower than Oliveira and provisional third!
8’31
Min is the first of the top GC contenders to finish. He’s not a great time trialist but manages to limit his losses to 20 seconds.
8’50
What an upset! An outsider before the stage at best, Main comes through and sets a new best time!
8’29
The next GC contender is Roman, he loses two seconds to Min.
8’52
Another duo of good climbers follows in quick succession. First Aular …
8’57
… then Inkelaar. Neither does terribly well, but it’s about what could have been expected.
8’59
Conci is one of the most well-rounded riders in this field and he does well on this terrain, too. Provisional fifth!
8’31
It was speculated before the stage whether it would be short enough to give a pure prologue specialist like Kopfauf a chance at a good result. The answer is apparently: yes! He falls short of Main’s time by just a sliver, but is second at the moment.
8’29
Note: Because PCM is weird, the results at the end of the stage don't match those pictured here (among riders who are within a second of each other). The info in the commentary is the accurate one (hence Main > Kopfauf).
With six of eight riders per team now at the finish, here’s another look at the standings. Unobserved by the cameras, Cardona has put himself in a great position for a top result today.
Mano disappoints today, not even finishing in the Top 50.
8’49
Barta has high hopes for the GC, he’s a good time trialist as well, and it shows: It’s the best time by a GC favorite so far.
8’31
Almeida can’t claim the same, but he makes up a bit of time on in-team rival Aular.
8’46
One of the best time trialists here is De Bod. He delivers a really solid time, but in this close competition, it’s only good for a provisional sixth place.
8’31
Castrillo is quite the disappointment, he’s barely inside the Top 30 at the moment.
8’38
Top puncheur and GC contender Gidich shoots through the technical parts of this course but it’s not quite enough to challenge for the win today. He’s on par with the likes of De Bod and Barta.
8’31
Swede Anderberg surprisingly tied the lead at the checkpoint but then found another gear to beat the best time by a whole two seconds! What a performance!
8’27
Nine riders later, he is almost beaten! Again quite the surprise, Reddish comes along and is only fractions of a second slower. He’s a prologue specialist, but he wasn’t among the top favorites for today at all.
8’27
Pogacar certainly has a great future ahead of him, but he’ll have to wait at least a bit longer for success.
8’46
And the same is true even more for Bernal.
8’55
One of realistically four contenders left for the stage win today is on the road: Powless ties Anderberg’s time at the checkpoint but can’t hold the pace all the way. Still, it’s enough for a provisional fourth place.
8’29
Vlasov is the second of those possible contenders, but he falls short by a good margin.
8’32
But here comes the big favorite! Ganna also ties with Reddish, Anderberg and Powless at that checkpoint and he does so again at the finish line, but the milliseconds are not in his favor - he’s third!
8’27
After a few of the top sprinters finished, it’s time for three of the main GC contenders. First, it’s Schleck, easily the worst time trialist of the bunch, if not the entire field. And the time reflects that.
9’01
Areruya fares a little better, but not much. He loses 25 seconds to the likes of Gidich and Barta.
8’56
And top overall favorite Padun cannot offer more either, on the contrary.
8’59
The final rider for today and the final man with ambitions for the stage win is Kalaba. Like so many before, he tied the lead at the checkpoint (8 riders with less than a second between them there), but the second half of the course is where the differences are made. He sprints to the line, but it’s “only” good for seventh place!
8’29
Two major surprises keep top favorite Ganna from winning the stage: It’s Hampus Anderberg who will wear the yellow jersey tomorrow! We also see the first time gaps among the favorites, with almost 30 seconds seperating the likes of Powless, Barta and Gidich from Padun or Areruya. Next up: a stage for the sprinters.
Stage Result and GC (and Youth, technically, which will go unmentioned for obvious reasons)
Tour de l’Avenir 
