The time trial is a big hurdle for many, arguably most of the puncheurs here. Guys like GC leader Buchmann, 3rd placed Chaves, 4th placed Meurisse and 7th placed Slagter, this is the day they’ve been dreading. For others, it’s the opportunity to gain valuable time on exactly those riders.
This includes most significantly pre-race top favorites Gesink (2nd overall, + 29) and Izagirre (5th, + 1’21), but also the likes of Dulanjana (6th), Oomen (8th), Borisavljevic (9th) and Konig (10th), all still within 2 minutes of the lead, and all a bit of a surprise in their respective GC positions.
But this time trial has some pretty steep uphill sections next to its longer flat parts, so we’ll have to see how big the advantage of a strong TT stat really is. That also massively impacts the chances of a good stage result for TT specialists like Fiedler, Mullen and especially Cataford, who showed great form yesterday.
A lot of strong time trialists are on the course early. Predatsch is the first to cross the line with a time of
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Viennet, one of the best pure time trialists, beats that time handily.
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We get a first indication that climbing does play a role here when Vanderpool, a competent but far worse time trialist, but a better climber (not puncheur, mind you), is 20 seconds faster than Viennet at the intermediate time check. Moments later, Polish champion Marchewka reduces the best time by another 20 seconds.
Robert sets a new best time at the finish line, the first to come in under 30 minutes. But he was also 20 seconds slower than Marchewka at the time check, so we’ll see what this time is worth.
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Marchewka overtakes Schomber just as he comes to the finish line. His time is 35 seconds faster than Robert’s and might stand for a while.
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A few good specialists like Mottin, Dempster and Archbold finish without coming particularly close to the best time, but Fiedler shows that pure time trialing along can take you at least somewhat far. He’s 16 seconds off Marchewka and notably only lost a single second in the second half of the course.
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Balloni is 4 seconds slower than Fiedler, Atkins more than a minute, then Golovash beats the German by 7 seconds, the new second best time. But how much all of that is worth will only become clear once the better climbers are on the course.
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But first, a few of the better puncheurs among the TT specialists want their place in the spotlight, and Marchewka’s time in the hot seat is over. First, Mullen takes over …
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… then it’s Sergent with a significant lead …
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… and Pokälä takes over second place for now.
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A few other time trialists such as Van Niekerk and Cornu don’t manage to get into those spheres, but then we have the first climber/TT hybrid rider in Ortega. He’s just 1 second off of Sergent at the intermediate sprint, but loses another 15 in the second half. Still, he beats Pokälä.
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Sergent’s time would stand for a while, until Sterobo comes along and obliterates it by more than half a minute. A strong pure time trialist, he’s also a decent climber and that pays off here. This bodes very well for someone like Cataford later on, and of course Gesink.
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Over the next 50 riders or so, only one was able to beat Sterobo and that’s youngster Bernal. He’s still in the lead as we head into the Top 30.
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Considering the riders who were succesful so far, you’d think this course was made for Uwizeyimana, but he falls short and is just 8th for the moment. De Luna, another decent climber/time trialist, is a few seconds slower.
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We also see the devestating losses some of the poor time trialists can have here, even if they’re strong puncheurs. Ulissi, 26th heading into today, loses more than two and a half minutes.
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Yates follows just one rider later, he manages to limit his losses much better, but still will be lucky to finish even in the Top 50 today.
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Nepomnyachsniy fares expectedly better, but he falls short of the best time as well, provisional sixth place for him.
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Gautier suffers a similar fate to Ulissi, though not quite as harsh. Still, more than 2 minutes off the best time.
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Meanwhile, Cataford has passed the checkpoint. He’s 5 seconds slower than Bernal, but the second half seems to suit the better time trialists more.
In contrast to the likes of Gautier and Ulissi, Paulinho is not just a great puncheur but also a solid climber. But even that doesn’t seem to save him here, he’s 46 seconds behind at the time check already.
Unfortunately missed by the cameras, Cataford crossed the line and for the first time in a while, we have a new best time! Well, it’s the same as before, but fractions of a second faster than Bernal!
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Then we have a new best time, although again by less than a second, at the time check and it comes from Haga! He’s been very solid so far in this race, currently 11th in the GC, and he seems to continue in the same way today.
Gallopin finishes in the provisional Top 10, less than 20 seconds slower than Cataford.
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A few minutes later, Schreurs comes in with a much worse time.
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Similar to Haga, Borisavljevic has been one of the positive surprises of this race. And at the time check, he’s within the same second as the American and Bernal! And just behind him, Oomen is only a single second slower.
Prevar on the other hand follows more in the footsteps of Schreurs …
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… as does Paulinho. Both men’s Top 10 ambitions take a hit today.
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The Portuguese is almost overtaken by Haga, who has the new best time, and by a solid 8 seconds now.
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Meanwhile, one of the top favorites for today disappoints a bit with just the 15th best time at the time check. That’s a ten second deficit for Izagirre, one second slower than Dulanjana and just 5 seconds faster than Slagter.
Konig excelled yesterday and he performs well again today, riding into the provisional Top 10 of the day and likely to keep his Top 10 in the GC as well.
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Meurisse doesn’t look great here so far, he’s already more than half a minute behind at the time check. Chaves on the other hand keeps pace with the likes of Slagter and Izagirre, 13 seconds behind the lead.
Remember, that lead was the one by Borisavljevic, who is the next man at the finish line. He was less than a second faster than Haga, but the Minion had the better second half.
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You see the stripes of a former world champion and Gesink doesn’t hesitate to let everyone know who’s going to win today. He’s 16 seconds ahead at the time check already - that’s a bigger gap from him to second place than from second place to 20th!
For Buchmann, it is now just about losing as little time as possible to the Dutch. At the time check, they’re already equal in the GC, with a gap of 29 seconds between them here.
Oomen fights for a good GC position but also the white jersey. He’s fifth at the line for now, just 8 seconds slower than Haga.
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Before we see if the white jersey changes shoulders, Slagter finishes. Compared to many other puncheurs, he fares decently well and keeps his GC hopes alive.
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Dulanjana had 15 seconds on Oomen in the young rider’s classification, 9 of which he already lost in the first half of today. Another 7 are added over the second half and he falls behind by a single one. He’s still in a great spot GC wise, though!
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Izagirre has to be disappointed with his result here today. He finishes one place behind Dulanjana, just barely inside the Top 15.
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Meurisse would have been elated with such a result, but that was never in the cards for him. But he manages to stay in the Top 10 overall.
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Chaves could already see Gesink if he looked over his shoulder. But he’s focused, and it pays off. Finishing in the Top 25 of the day is a strong result for him, a result that keeps him on the podium!
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Gesink was the top favorite for today and from the moment his tires hit the pavement, his win was never in doubt. In the end, he distances second-place Haga by 27 seconds.
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Buchmann loses yellow today, but a really solid performance keeps him in second place in the GC and within striking distance (44 seconds) of Gesink. 25th place today.
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The GC got the expected shake-up today. Gesink established himself as the top favorite, as anticipated, but Buchmann survived the time trial with a manageable deficit. With Chaves and Izagirre, two of the pre-race favorites follow, but the rest of the Top 10 are full of surprises, with climbers outpacing the classic puncheurs, aided by good time trialing skills.
Some of the pure puncheurs who had already lost time yesterday fell even further behind here. Guys like Schreurs, Yates and Prevar are more than 5 minutes behind the GC lead and even around 3 minutes behind the Top 10. Meurisse and Slagter on the other hand are still well-positioned, and Paulinho at least has a Top 15 place to defend. Meanwhile, the young riders classification is as close as it’s ever been, and Polar takes the lead in the team classification.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco 
