A time trial of 28.1 kilometer today. It is long enough to create differences, but not long enough to give the time trialists the edge in the GC. The focus will be on two battles today: the battle for the stage win and the battle for the GC. Wisniowski and Summerhill are only two seconds apart, with Bewley at 1'44. Behind them there will also be some interested battles, with better time trialists currently behind the pure cobblestone specialists who got there based on their performance yesterday.
Malori sets the benchmark time at 39'04, which is 16 seconds faster than Sagan and 42 seconds faster than Predatsch. They are down at the bottom of the GC, so this is the only moment they can shine.
Yatsevich starts slow, losing nineteen seconds to his teammate. At the second checkpoint the difference is down to eleven, but at the finish line it is back up to nineteen. Third place behind Sagan, disappointing time for the Russian.
Turek sets the fastest time at the first checkpoint, which might be a slight surprise, but when I tell you the margin your mouth will fall open: 42 seconds! It is not just a case of a fast start, as he leads by a minute at the second checkpoint. He lost a bit on the final section but still takes the fastest time by 51 seconds on the finish line.
Plucinski? If you had predicted that name for a good result you will be a millionaire after today, second time at 47 seconds, but four ahead of Malori.
Normality is somewhat restored as Fiedler lives up to favorite billing. 37'08 is a minute and five seconds faster than Turek, and it should take some serious quality to beat that time.
Dekker was three seconds down on Turek at the first split, which grew to nine at the second split and fifteen at the finish line, to finish just outside the podium.
Ghyselinck closest so far to Fiedler on the first section, but already concedes twenty seconds. That gap grows over the next sections but he holds off Turek by ten seconds to become virtual best of the rest.
Teammate Brown will battle him. He is six and nine seconds faster at the intermediates, and at the finish line it translates to ten seconds. 45 seconds down on Fiedler, but Generali have a provisional two-three.
Geoghegan Hart lost a minute on the first section and a minute on the second section, but only half a minute on the final section. Virtual tenth place at 2'31, but it will not return him the white jersey he lost on the cobbles.
Gastauer overtakes teammate Centrone right on the line, but that is not necessarily a good sign. He needs time to get back in GC contention, but four and a half minutes minutes down on Fiedler will not help. It only adds to the massive blow he received yesterday.
Viviani passes Eeckhout at the second checkpoint. The Italian posts the fifth time, one second behind Turek, which he had beaten at the first checkpoint. The Italian drops even further back on the final section, behind Dekker for sixth.
Wirtgen, though quick to overtake Lietaer, disappoints on a route which should suit him. He loses four minutes to Fiedler over 28 kilometer.
McCarthy is about to be overtaken by Nechita. The Australian would finish 154th out of 170th participants, and needs a miracle to gain all time back on the hilly stage.
Nechita with a bit of a slow start, but sped up towards the end. It is not the best time, + 3'18 for thirtieth place at the end of the day.
Bibby is good on the hills and the time trials, it were the cobbles which brought him in this disadvantageous position. He posts the eleventh time, nine seconds ahead of teammate Geoghegan Hart.
De Bie with a decent time trial, on the edge of the top twenty. Eighteen minutes is a lot to get back on the hilly stage, but of all specialists he is best positioned.
Kireva is one of the better time trialists in the top 50. He takes eleventh place currently at + 2'19, and is set to move up a few places.
The three main protagonists in the GC battle line up at the start:
Bewley has to make up 1'44 to Wisniowski. Even though both are about equal in terms of time trial quality, a mistake or bad form can do a lot. In any case, the New Zealander wants to get closer for the decisive stages.
Summerhill has been close to the jersey on many occasions, and only has to beat Wisniowski by two seconds. The American is, on paper at least, the worst time trialist out of the three.
Wisniowski has the yellow jersey and starts last, so has the advantage of being informed of the split times. The Pole could also use Summerhill for slipstream if he overtakes, something which Bewley will likely not be able to do on Boom.
Cataford is expected to be the final challenger to Fiedler for the stage win. After 9.5 kilometer he already lost half a minute though, so his focus should be on finishing as fast as possible and gaining places in the GC. A time of 38'27 is good enough for fifth place.
Tarvis was only one second ahead of him, and the Estonian will fall behind him and Kireva.
Feng only had seven seconds, which are long gone after the first checkpoint. He continues on his own pace and takes a decent 42nd place on the stage, which means he stays ahead of Kireva.
Van der Poel finishes one place behind the ISA rider, by one second. He led by more than one second in the GC, but he also loses a place to Cataford.
Russo is one minute down on Fiedler at the first split, which is eleventh place on that leaderboard. He maintains that position on the second checkpoint but drops down a bit at the finish line, sixteenth at 2'43. He falls thirteen seconds short of Cataford for the virtual GC lead.
David occupied 21st place but is not the best time trialist, dropping to 26th.
Starting with the top twenty, with Polanc in 20th position. He finishes on the edge of the top 40, but Cataford and Russo are past.
Bush, Riesebeek, Benoot and Ringheim were expected to drop a few places. They all lose out to Cataford, Russo and Polanc, with Ringheim now fourth, Riesebeek fifth, Van der Poel sixth, Feng seventh, Benoot eighth, Bush ninth and Kireva tenth. Fifteen riders left to finish.
The leaders have reached checkpoint one:
Bewley with the benchmark of 14'15, which is 1'21 slower than Fiedler and 28th at the checkpoint.
Summerhill is almost caught by Wisniowski, so his time is not great. 2'43 down on Fiedler, so only 20 seconds remaining compared to Bewley. The American will drop to third, or perhaps worse.
Wisniowski only needs to ride comparable times to Bewley. He does more than that, he beats Bewley by 28 seconds and places 14th. Of the GC top ten, only Oliveira is a few seconds faster here.
Per is a decent time trialist, and balances on the edge of the top twenty at the checkpoints. He finishes at 2'46, which is currently nineteenth place. He is the first rider to place ahead of Cataford in the GC, and might have a run for the white jersey.
Kung is just outside the top ten at the moment, but a far superior time trialists over some inside it. He becomes the fourth Generali in the top ten, in the same time as Viviani, which means 1'37 down on Fiedler. It is enough to take the virtual jersey, but gaining ten minutes on Wisniowski is a bit too much.
He at least takes Trentin, who just hangs on to a top twenty in the GC.
Pedersen held the white jersey by 51 seconds over Per. His lead was reduced to only a few seconds after the first checkpoint, so it is clear the white jersey will change shoulders at the finish line. Per will lead the Dane by 39 seconds, with Van der Poel at four minutes. GC-wise, he had enough of a margin to Cataford behind.
Senechal is only this high up due to his cobblestone performance, he doesn't have the skills to battle for the general classification in time trials and hills. He finishes just inside the top 100, 5'30 slower than Fiedler, but with the huge gaps in the GC he will only drop places to Kung, Per, Pedersen and Cataford by just two seconds.
The leaders have reached checkpoint two:
Bewley clocks at 30'16, + 2'48 compared to Fiedler. 41th place is a serious drop.
Wisniowski has overtaken Summerhill, so he comes first. He increases his lead by only losing 1'56. Unless he takes a wrong turn, he will remain in yellow.
Summerhill is no longer relevant for the GC battle and is only going backwards, + 5'40 and has to look at fourth-placed Boom, who rides roughly the same pace as Wisniowski. The difference between the two is six minutes.
Gerts could move up places on the hilly stage, but has to overcome today first. 5'02 is the damage, which means he drops behind Kung and Per in the GC, from tenth to twelfth.
Bolivar loses almost four minutes today, which is thirty seconds more than he could have lost against Kung. The Colombian will stay in the top ten though.
Walsleben is one of the better time trialists in the top ten on paper, as he loses just under three minutes. It is enough to defend against Kung for the virtual GC lead, with seven riders left to finish.
Theuns, Kruijswijk and Oliveira are seventh, sixth and fifth in the GC, so started 90 seconds apart. Since they finish almost together, we have a clear idea of the relative performances. Theuns finishes at 5'28, just inside the top 100, Kruijswijk finishes at 3'54 just outside the top 50, and Oliveira finishes at 2'06 for eleventh place. Kruijswijk loses a place to Oliveira and Walsleben while Theuns loses a place to both of them, and to Kung and Bolivar as well.
Boom has 50 seconds to Oliveira before today, and had lost exactly half of that after two-third of the time trial. By simple mathematics, he should have enough to stay fourth in the GC, and that becomes reality. He will finish nineteenth at 2'43, and remains ahead of Oliveira by only thirteen seconds.
Bewley reaches the finish line, knowing his effort is not enough to close the gap to Wisniowski. 55th place at the finish line, which will turn into 56th as Wisniowski finishes, four minutes down on Fiedler. He had more than four minutes to Boom and only loses one and a half.
Wisniowski defends the yellow jersey, and even increases his lead over his direct rivals. He finishes in 39'59, which brings him 23th place.
Summerhill is not the last starter but is the last finisher, by quite some margin as well. Only 21 riders are slower than him today, as he falls two seconds shy of losing eight minutes to the winner. Despite the horrific performance, he remains on the GC podium, but Boom is now only 43 seconds behind him.
The stage win was decided early on in the stage: Jacob Fiedler outclassed the opposition and takes a deserved win. Generali completes the podium with Brown and Ghyselinck at 45 and 55 seconds respectively. Turek fourth at 1'05, with Cataford fifth at 1'19 and Dekker sixth at 1'20. Viviani and Kung tie in seventh place at 1'37, which brings Generali the lead in the teams classification by five minutes over Aegon. Plucinski the surprise of the day with his ninth place, and Malori slightly disappointing in tenth.
As established earlier, Wisniowski remains in yellow, now with an even firmer lead than before. Bewley has swapped places with Summerhill, the former now 2'57 behind. Boom and Oliveira stay fourth and fifth but are now much closer to a podium position, less than a minute behind Summerhill. Walsleben has sixth place by three seconds over Kruijswijk, with Kung, Bolivar and Theuns completing the top ten. These riders are the only one within ten minutes of the leader. Per jumps to eleventh in the same time as Gerts, with Cataford now up to fourteenth behind Pedersen, Per taking the white jersey from Pedersen.
