Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to day number 14 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia! It might be the most special day of the whole race, as every rider will have to cover today's distance on his own, alone against the clock! 55 kilometers - an extremely long time trial - so we expect extremely high gaps as well!
The organizers have in fact decided to support the weaker riders a bit, by eliminating the time limit on today's stage. Furthermore, many specialists for this kind of stages have been complaining about the initial profile. The strong stage racers are favored by the fact that we're already on day 14 anyway, and the hilly profile was even more to their advantage.
Which led to the fact that MGUCI have found a new, flat course for this time trial - not even telling us where it is. We'll only get the live pictures today, but we weren't allowed on site. All we know is that it's flat, 55.2 kilometers long, and that we'll have split times after 24.4 and 40.2 kilometers.
This new course should definitely put the pure tempo riders more in contention, and so we first take a look at their start positions (e.g. current GC positions) as well as their strengths and weaknesses:
Rank
Time Difference
Rider
TT
Res
Fl
Rec
188
+ 3h21'30
Dillier
80
77
70
67
182
+ 2h44'47
Haugard
79
77
72
70
181
+ 2h42'22
Campenaerts
78
73
71
72
179
+ 2h38'05
Van Winden
79
68
73
72
178
+ 2h32'10
Yatsevich
80
81
70
67
171
+ 2h01'21
Leung
78
77
73
69
166
+ 1h48'25
Dal Col
79
72
71
68
153
+ 1h27'14
Hepburn
79
77
71
72
152
+ 1h24'09
Mullen
79
74
75
72
151
+ 1h23'12
Vorobev
79
71
75
67
140
+ 1h13'38
Viviani
79
77
78
74
138
+ 1h10'56
Jungels
78
75
72
69
137
+ 1h10'34
Malori
79
73
78
72
112
+ 51'01
Coppel
81
75
75
69
78
+ 33'31
Goncalves
78
72
70
74
47
+ 23'23
Wirtgen
78
74
73
73
43
+ 21'26
Kozhatayev
72
75
74
71
30
+ 17'35
Bernal
74
76
69
77
26
+ 14'48
Spilak
75
78
70
75
24
+ 14'02
Aru
64
75
67
76
22
+ 13'15
Brenes
69
80
67
70
21
+ 13'11
Kennaugh
73
70
74
70
20
+ 12'38
Arndt
56
76
71
72
19
+ 12'11
Schleck
70
76
67
76
18
+ 12'02
Amador
76
71
68
74
17
+ 12'01
Faglum Karlsson
73
75
71
76
16
+ 11'54
Chiarello
73
74
71
77
15
+ 11'26
Valls
71
76
68
76
14
+ 11'18
Karnulin
70
75
69
77
13
+ 11'15
Nesset
69
76
69
74
12
+ 11'12
Bongiorno
68
77
69
77
11
+ 11'07
Talansky
72
76
71
77
10
+ 11'07
Shikai
76
76
72
78
9
+ 11'00
Reis
76
76
70
78
8
+ 10'46
Taaramäe
80
79
74
77
7
+ 10'38
Barguil
70
77
70
82
6
+ 10'38
Kritskiy
79
75
74
76
5
+ 10'34
Budenieks
63
74
69
71
4
+ 10'32
Haig
77
75
72
78
3
+ 10'15
Mager
62
70
70
71
2
+ 10'00
Kruijswijk
72
72
77
71
1
55h19'09
Malecki
70
74
73
70
Red lantern Dillier should already be able to set a first good reference time - however, it is questionable how much of an impact the efforts on the previous stages will have on his performance. Which holds as well for most other time trialists, having done quite a lot of supplementary work so far, often riding all alone in the mountains or hills.
One thing that sticks out immediately is that most of the top stage racers recover much better than the pure time trialists - in addition to having spent less time in the saddle so far. Let's see if that outweighs pure ITT skills, or if the tempo riders still take the win today!
But the big, big favorite must be Taaramäe, as he's at the same time a top time trialist, and has great resistance and recovery. Kritskiy is not far off, though - these two could make important gains in the GC! But as you can see, many other GC contenders are no slouches in this discipline, either - so let's see how that all works out!
At least the bookmakers will give the specialists some hope, as they don't consider low recovery to be a factor today. They see Coppel, Taaramäe and Yatsevich on top - three names we could expect to see there in a one-day event as well. Next are Hepburn, Mullen and Dillier. The second strongest time trialist among the GC contenders, Kritskiy, rounds off the list along with teammate Malori, Viviani and Goncalves.
And now, let's not lose any more words about who could or could not do well for whatever reason - let's jump straight in and see what the race really brings!
Many of the pure time trialists are far behind in the GC - and Dillier is even at the very end of the rankings. Hence, he posts the first reference mark at the first checkpoint - 29'39".
Haugard is the next strong time trialist - and he beats this time by 13 seconds! The new best time is 29'26".
But even this time doesn't stand very long - one minute and 57 seconds to be precise, as Campenaerts, the next rider in the race, bests the time by 3". New best: 29'23".
O'Shea has a decent start into the race as well, trailing by 8" at the first split.
Dutch ITT champion Van Winden then shows the others how it's done, by lowering the best time by 13 seconds! The reference mark now stands at 29'10".
But Yatsevich directly follows him and gets really close - but he doesn't quite match the best time, trailing by 3 seconds. 2nd place for him. Dillier has already dropped to 6th - clearly not a good day for him.
And here we have said Dillier at the second checkpoint with about 15km to go, posting a first time of 50'17". Has he been able to climb up a bit in the rankings?
Frison meanwhile reaches the first intermediate time - but he won't be happy about this 44" deficit. 7th place for him, still closer to the specialists than to the rest, but already 16" behind 6th place.
Haugard then confirms his good first split time, lowering the mark at the second checkpoint by 20 seconds: 49'57".
Leung has an OK start as well, still being in contention. He loses 17" on the first 24 kilometers, which is 5th place so far.
Campenaerts then about doubles his 3" lead on Haugard at the second checkpoint, now leading by 7 seconds: 49'50".
O'Shea continues his trend as well, losing 6 additional seconds, now trailing Campenaerts by 14". 3rd place at the second split.
Van Winden still has the leading time at the first split - and now as well at the second, lowering the previous mark by 21"! The new best time is 49'29".
Which is again attacked by Yatsevich - but he comes short again, now trailing by 4". Still, it's the clear 2nd place for the Russian so far.
Van Zandbeek then crosses the line at the first checkpoint, losing 37". This is provisional 8th place, in between Dillier and Frison.
Dillier started the race first - and he's the first as well to arrive at the finish line. His total time is 1h10'12" - let's see by how much this can still be lowered!
Dal Col has found a pretty good rhythm so far, too. He is 18" back at the first split, which is enough for provisional 6th at this place.
Leung would surely have preferred the course to be shorter, so he's not among the very best. He is 29" back by the second checkpoint - 5th place.
Turek can't keep up with the fastest, either, being already 37" down after the first section. 10th place for him.
Haugard was ahead of Dillier throughout the whole race - and he has further extended his lead. He beats the Swiss by 27", setting a new best time of 1h09'45". Well done!
But he can't even sit down on the hot seat, as his teammate Campenaerts crosses the line 1'50" later - meaning he improves the reference mark by another 10"! The best time now is 1h09'35".
The next to complete his race is O'Shea, who did a good job as well! He lost 20" on these 55 kilometers, which currently means 3rd place for him.
But now comes the leader at the two checkpoints! Van Winden had 20" of advantage on Campenaerts at the second split - and he extended this to 29"! The best time now stands at 1h09'06". However, he'll have to wait for quite a few hours to know what this time is worth...
Or maybe just for a few seconds, as Yatsevich was close throughout the whole race! He was 3" and 4" down at the intermediate times - and now? The clock stops at 1h09'13" - 7" behind Van Winden! It's easily the 2nd place for him, but he surely hoped to turn things around on the last section.
By the way, Frison finishes a little later, 1'49" off the pace. He was not caught by the cameras any more, as he couldn't keep up with the very best, taking provisional 7th place.
The next rider to set a respectable time at the second checkpoint is Dal Col. But the Italian has dropped one spot on the second section, and now is 41" off the leading pace. 7th place so far.
7th place holds as well for Fominykh, but at the first split. The Kazakh is 20" down.
And not down at all, but even in the lead is Hepburn at the same place! Best time at the first checkpoint, 29'06"! Which is 4" faster than Van Winden.
Mullen then posts an underwhelming time after the first section, being already 44" slower than Hepburn! This is only good for 13th place so far.
However, Vorobev does even worse, losing 8 additional seconds! 16th place for the Russian, and definitely out of contention for a good stage result.
Fominykh has meanwhile reached the second split time, where he trails teammate Dillier by just 2". However, in total, that is 49" to Van Winden and 9th place.
Leung ends his day 49" behind Van Winden - which is 5th place, and one second faster than O'Shea.
Van Zandbeek finishes shortly after him, currently in 9th place with a 1'50" deficit, hence not caught by the TV cameras.
It was a constant race by Dal Col - but it's not a good sign if you constantly lose time. 1'03" in total means 7th place, just ahead of Dillier.
Hepburn is still the leader at the first time check - and at the second? Not quite, as he's now trailing by 6". Which is only good enough for 3rd, with Yatsevich between him and Van Winden.
Mullen clearly isn't on a good day, having conceded already 1'20" with 15km to go. 13th place can't be satisfying for him.
But this is even less the case for Vorobev, who loses an additional 11" to be only 15th at this point. Disappointing.
Turek has meanwhile crossed the finish line, being almost 2 minutes slower than Van Winden on today's course. 11th place for him currently, but that won't be good enough for a top result.
A top result is definitely what Viviani is targeting today - and it's looking good so far! He's only 5" down after the first 24 kilometers, which is provisional 3rd place for him. The Italian seems to be really motivated in his home race!
It's looking much less good for Jungels, though. The Luxembourger loses 33", i.e. one second more than Dillier, and is only 12th.
But then the noise goes up, as Malori posts the new best time at the first checkpoint! The Italian rode this first part 2" faster than Van Winden, setting the reference time to 29'04"!
The next to set a good first intermediate time is Wohler, losing 17" so far. He's "best of the rest" in 6th place, with a 9" gap to 5th.
Kukrle didn't have a very strong first part, hence he wasn't shown live on TV. But he has improved on the second section, conceding only 11 more seconds. With a total deficit of 53", that's 11th place for him.
Another rider who didn't really figure in the broadcast planning is Daniel. But he did pretty well on the first part, being 32" down in 13th place.
Fominykh wasn't the fastest on the first 40 kilometers - but he had a really good last part! He only lost 11" on the final 15 kilometers, and currently takes 7th place with a 58" deficit. Which is 8" faster than teammate Dillier, proving that the latter really had an off-day.
One may think that such results could be due to some wind - but there's virtually none. The wind speed changes between 0km/h and 6km/h - really nothing that should have an impact!
Hepburn doesn't care about the wind or other stuff, he just rides his race - and he does so pretty fast! He trailed by 6" at the second checkpoint - was he able to turn things around? Remember, the best time is 1h'09'06".
1h08'58" ... 1h08'59" ... 1h09'00" ... 1h09'01" - Hepburn is the new leader! He beats Van Winden's time by 5", meaning he was 11 seconds faster on the closing kilometers - great job!
A bit later, we have Mullen and Vorobev finishing the race - both getting a disappointing result. The Irishman is 11th, 1'43" back (though 33" behind 10th place), the Russian is only 14th, 1'57" down.
Viviani then rides against the best time of his teammate Van Winden at the second split - and he beats it by 11 seconds! The new mark stands at 49'18", and the Tifosi are going crazy!
Next is Jungels, who has gained quite some spots from the first to the second checkpoint! Yet, he's 48" off Viviani's pace, which is good enough for 9th.
But he immediately loses a spot, as Malori improves the best time by yet another 11 seconds! The Italians are going mad, now having a 1-2 at the second split! The reference time now is 49'07".
Still going pretty fast as well is Wohler, although he isn't able to keep up with the very best. Nonetheless, he's only 3" behind current race leader Hepburn at this point - but now 31" behind Malori. 6th place for him.
Ivars posts a decent time after the first section, losing 30". Provisional 13th place.
Daniel is still in contention for a good result given his TT skills. At the second checkpoint, he's 12th, one minute flat behind Malori.
In the meantime, Kukrle has finished his race in 11th position, 1'13" slower than Hepburn. Just ahead of him in 10th place is Dillier, 3" faster, whereas Mullen behind him is 30" down.
The crowd goes crazy as Viviani approaches the finish line! The Italian was 18" ahead at the second checkpoint - and he conserves that lead to take over the hot seat by a 20" margin!
He's the first rider to be faster than 1h09, posting a new best time of 1h08'41"! Will that be enough for a podium or even the win today? Given the intermediate times, it will probably not even be enough to be the best Italian - but we'll see!
Jungels improved between the first and second splits - and he did so on the final sector as well, gaining two positions by overtaking Leung and O'Shea. This is currently 7th place for him, 1'06" back.
But given that the next rider is already on the last kilometer as well, this will surely be 8th place very soon...
Given the noise in the finish area, there's no doubt that this next rider is fast - and Italian! Malori holds the best time at both time checks - and now at the finish line, too! He lowers Viviani's mark by 17 seconds, setting it to 1h08'27" and making it a 1-2 for Italy!
But beware, there are still a few potential party crashers yet to start...
Wohler surely wasn't among those expected to get a top result here - but at the moment, it is one! He comes in on 5th place, only 43" slower than Malori - and just 7" off the podium! Great performance!
Next, we have Ivars posting a very good time at the second checkpoint, only losing 10" on this section. Which makes a total deficit of 40" and 7th place so far - better than any of his teammates.
Then, we have one of those potential party crashers posting his first intermediate time - and boy, is Coppel on fire today! He's 23" ahead of Malori after 24 kilometers - what an amazing performance! The new best time: 28'41". 23 seconds! Oh dear...
After this shocker, it's quite hard to value Danacik's second intermediate time - but it's actually strong as well! He lost 42" so far, which is enough for 9th place at this point.
Maybe the wind actually DOES have an impact?!? We're down to 1km/h now, whereas a few minutes ago we had 6km/h - and now we generally have faster times. Maybe it's just coincidental...
Daniel continues the streak of good results, finishing on provisional 9th place. He conceded 1'22" to Malori today - which surely is a good time given their relative time trial skills.
Behind him, Reus - a comparable time trialist - finishes two minutes down on 17th place, while Affonso loses 20" more and is 19th.
Ivars holds on to the 7th place he posted at the second split, losing 59" on these 55 kilometers. He's surely another rider who wasn't expected to do that well, beating the likes of Campenaerts or even his teammate Dillier (being almost a minute faster than the latter, furthermore).
Kuboki didn't have the best start - but he improved quite a lot on the second section, moving up to 13th. He's 57" back.
But this man is riding on another level so far - Coppel beats Malori by 47 seconds at the second checkpoint, lowering the reference time to 48'20"! What a demonstration by the Frenchman!
And we get rather stunning news from the first split as well, as Cavagna posts the 7th time - 33" down on Coppel means only 11" behind 2nd place! Great ride so far!
We then have Danacik posting a really good final time as well, conceding 1'01" to Malori. This is 8th place - being good on the climbs and not losing too much energy so far really seems to help for a good performance today!
Oliveira, on the other hand, will be rather disappointed, as he finishes 1'46" down and just in 17th place. His recovery surely isn't the best, so that might indeed have made an impact.
Kneisky arrives in the same region, posting the 16th time so far (+ 1'40"), but with his time trial skills, that's a decent result.
The party is over for the Italians, as Coppel crosses the finish line! He was faster than Malori on all three sections, taking the lead with a 52 second margin! So he proves all theories of recovery or mountain skills wrong and shows that pure tempo riding skills are enough to crush the competition today! What a stunning ride by the French champion!
The reference time is now even below 1h08', as he sets the new mark to 1h07'32"! Is it the winning time? We'll see, and it still will be a long wait, as not even half the riders have finished this competition...
After this, Kuboki's 16th place (+ 2'26") is just a side note... And gaps over two minutes are the new reality. Losing less actually still means a Top 10...
Cavagna is still flying, even gaining two spots from the first to the second checkpoint! He's now 5th at that point, 1'10" down on Coppel!
Powless then almost takes his spot at the first split, losing 34" and taking provisional 8th place! Good ride so far as well!
But he actually lost twice as much time as Goncalves! Conceding 17" so far, the Portuguese takes 2nd place at the first time check!
And with 110 riders having set a time there, let's look at the current Top 20 at the first checkpoint:
1.
Coppel
28'41"
11.
Campenaerts
+ 41"
2.
Goncalves
+ 17"
12.
Haugard
+ 44"
3.
Malori
+ 22"
13.
Leung
+ 45"
4.
Hepburn
+ 25"
14.
Dal Col
+ 46"
5.
Van Winden
+ 28"
15.
Fominykh
+ 49"
6.
Viviani
+ 30"
16.
O'Shea
+ 49"
7.
Yatsevich
+ 31"
17.
Ivars
+ 53"
8.
Cavagna
+ 33"
18.
Danacik
+ 55"
9.
Powless
+ 34"
19.
Daniel
+ 55"
10.
Wohler
+ 40"
20.
Dillier
+ 57"
As not many very strong time trialists are currently out on the course, we already have Cavagna showing up in the finish area! However, he lost again those two spots he had gained on section 2, posting the 7th time. He's 1'38" behind his compatriot Coppel - which is still a good result, though!
Brown then enters the Top 20 at the first checkpoint, but "only" in 15th place. He has lost 47 seconds so far.
And we expect something from Izagirre today, as he was really disappointing so far. Unfortunately, so he is today. He already has a 1'09" deficit after 24 kilometers, which is just 29th place...
Powless - not a better time trialist on paper - is going much stronger so far. Although he drops three spots from 1st to 2nd time check, he stops the clock 1'33" off the best time and is currently 12th. But the gaps are so small in that region of the intermediate standings that anything is possible on the final 15 kilometers!
Vangstad is the next to post a Top 20 time at the first split, being 16th, 48" back.
Then we have Goncalves posting his 2nd intermediate time - and boy, how much speed has he lost! That's 51" on the preceding 15 kilometers, which is a total deficit of 1'08" and only 5th place, while he was 2nd at the first checkpoint!
We see the same pattern for Brown, who was 15th at the first split and now drops outside the Top 20! Only 23rd place so far, 1'56" back.
We notice that the wind is back at "full speed", i.e. 6km/h - which means headwind on the second section. But 6km/h really shouldn't make an impact, right? Maybe it still does... We'll never know.
Let's now take a look at the Top 20 at time check number 2 as well:
1.
Coppel
48'20"
11.
Campenaerts
+ 1'29"
2.
Malori
+ 46"
12.
Danacik
+ 1'29"
3.
Viviani
+ 57"
13.
Powless
+ 1'33"
4.
Van Winden
+ 1'08"
14.
Haugard
+ 1'36"
5.
Goncalves
+ 1'08"
15.
Leung
+ 1'38"
6.
Cavagna
+ 1'10"
16.
O'Shea
+ 1'43"
7.
Yatsevich
+ 1'12"
17.
Kuboki
+ 1'44"
8.
Hepburn
+ 1'15"
18.
Jungels
+ 1'46"
9.
Wohler
+ 1'18"
19.
Daniel
+ 1'47"
10.
Ivars
+ 1'27"
20.
Dal Col
+ 1'50"
Powless finally drops one more spot, posting the provisional 13th time, 2'13" slower than Coppel. He might have pushed too hard at the start, as he's still 9th at the first checkpoint...
Vangstad continued at a steady and pretty solid pace, again posting the 16th time at the 2nd split. 1'40" is his current deficit.
We then get a surprisingly good 2nd intermediate time from Rosskopf as well; he was only 33rd at the first checkpoint, and has moved up to 20th now, 1'47" back.
But it's an even bigger jump for Cosnefroy, who was 24th at the first split and now posts the 10th time at checkpoint two! He's 1'22" down.
We can observe that there again is no more wind - it really seems to make a difference, although that isn't reasonable at these low wind speeds...
Goncalves then arrives at the finish line, where he posts the 4th time. He tails by 1'25", meaning he was 9" faster than Van Winden, whose time he matched at the second checkpoint.
Let's again take a look at the current standings, this time at the finish line:
1.
Coppel
1h07'32"
11.
Danacik
+ 1'54"
2.
Malori
+ 52"
12.
Campenaerts
+ 2'03"
3.
Viviani
+ 1'09"
13.
Haugard
+ 2'13"
4.
Goncalves
+ 1'25"
14.
Powless
+ 2'13"
5.
Hepburn
+ 1'29"
15.
Daniel
+ 2'15"
6.
Van Winden
+ 1'34"
16.
Jungels
+ 2'16"
7.
Wohler
+ 1'36"
17.
Leung
+ 2'23"
8.
Cavagna
+ 1'38"
18.
O'Shea
+ 2'24"
9.
Yatsevich
+ 1'41"
19.
Kuboki
+ 2'26"
10.
Ivars
+ 1'52"
20.
Fominykh
+ 2'32"
But just as we post it, the table is already outdated, as Brown matches Kuboki's time and takes 19th, ahead of the Japanese. That's an improvement from the second time check, where he wasn't among the Top 20.
After him, we have Izagirre finishing three minutes flat behind Coppel - which is only 32nd place for him. He surely hoped for more today!
Canty in 24th (+ 2'38") and Dyball in 34th place (+ 3'11") perform about as expected.
Vangstad posted the 16th time at both checkpoints (having slipped down to 18th at the 2nd by now) - but apparently his strategy was to keep as much energy as possible for the final section! He moves up to 10th, conceding 1'51" to the current leader!
Back to the first checkpoint, where Ludvigsson just posted the 10th time so far! He currently trails by 39".
However, he soon slips down one place, as Wirtgen takes over this exact 10th place, being three seconds faster!
Geoghegan Hart isn't quite as fast, but 17th place, 47" off the best time, is still a good intermediate result.
We then get notice that Teklehaimanot has gained quite a lot of speed on the second section - almost matching Malori's time on these 15 kilometers! He's 15th at the second checkpoint, 1'34" down. Our cameramen will try to catch him at the finish line...
Rosskopf continues his impressive move up the rankings on each section, finishing on a strong provisional 14th place! He's 2'11" down - meaning he lost less time on sections 2 and 3 combined than on the first one.
All the pure ITT specialists are at least past the first split, so we now arrive at the team leaders. At least, we assume that Kozhatayev will be the best placed rider of his team by the end of this competition. How high up he'll be is another question, as he already lost 2'09" on the first 24km. 77th place for him.
Ludvigsson is doing a much better race (he has much better skills in this discipline, we have to admit). Although he drops by one spot compared to checkpoint one, he's still 11th at the second split, 1'26" back.
The exact same thing holds for Wirtgen - losing one spot, taking 11th place, with a time that is 1'26" slower than Coppel's. Which means that he lost 3" on Ludvigsson on this second sector.
And here's Teklehaimanot, just as we promised! He gained two more spots on the final section, taking 13th place with a 2'01" deficit! Great performance, making it three King Power riders in the provisional Top 15!
A time that's soon beaten by Cosnefroy - but not by much. The Frenchman loses 1'53", which is provisional 12th place for him. Which means he's the strongest rider of his team so far.
We then see on our monitors that Geoghegan Hart has clearly faded on the second part of the course, dropping almost out of the Top 30. Hence, the cameras didn't follow him.
At the same point, Kozhatayev trails already by 4'41", which surely isn't a good result given his not-too-bad skillset.
Bernal isn't among the top time trialists, either - but losing 1'53" on the first sector is definitely underwhelming for him! That's only 74th place so far.
Spilak does much better, taking 24th place. He's 54" down. He'll surely gain some spots in the GC today - but he knows well that some of those yet to come are even better than him against the clock.
This however definitely isn't the case of Aru, who concedes almost 3 minutes on that first part! He's barely inside the Top 100 currently!
And yes, you probably guessed it - there's much more wind again, blowing at 6km/h.
Whether it was the wind or bad pacing decisions - we just know that Ludvigsson had a really bad final part of the race. He drops down all the way to 19th, 2'13" off the best pace.
Wirtgen doesn't do much better - just one second, to be precise. 17th place for him, as there are three riders trailing him by a second, and Ludvigsson is the last of them.
Geoghegan Hart's ride follows approximately the same pattern, as he loses some more places to finish 35th, 2'44" down.
Which is all still way better than Kozhatayev, though, as the Kazakh finishes 82nd, conceding 6'14". He won't gain many places today...
Brenes is 22nd in the GC - but he'll likely at least lose one spot to Spilak if he continues like that! That's already 2'12" lost at the first split time, 88th place for the Costa Rican TT champion.
Kennaugh, 21st in the GC, does slightly better, losing 1'47". He's 70th so far.
And then we already have 19th placed Schleck reaching this point. However, that's not because he's extremely fast, rather because the rider he has overtaken isn't. The Luxembourger trails by 1'57" - 79th place.
We get Bernal's second split time as well, and he's already 3'26" down. That's not even near to where he should be.
Arndt and Amador reach the first time check exactly at the same time - meaning that the Costa Rican (18th GC) has already gained 4 minutes on the German (20th GC)!
It's 133rd place for Arndt (+ 5'09") and 37th place for Amador (+ 1'07") - which surely isn't as fast as exepcted for the latter. At least, there's room for improvement.
Faglum Karlsson (17th GC) - who on paper is clearly the slower time trialist - actually crosses the line 3" faster than Amador! Which is 32nd place for the Swede - a good ride so far!
The wind has faded - Spilak definitely hasn't! He loses less than 30" on the second part, making for a total deficit of 1'23" and 11th place at the second checkpoint! Can he move up further?
Moving up is probably not what Chiarello (16th GC) will do today, losing already more time than the Slovene 15km earlier into the race. The Brazilian is 62nd at the first split, 1'28" behind Coppel.
And moving up is even less of an option for Valls (15th GC) today, as he has already conceded more than two minutes. 87th place for him.
Laengen didn't get any airtime so far - but a really good last sector changes this! The Norwegian gains 14 spots on the closing kilometers, taking 16th with a 2'10" deficit.
14 riders remaining - thereof three Gazelle riders! Karnulin (14th GC) is the first - and he does a much better job so far than some supposedly stronger time trialists! He loses 1'36" on the first section, which is 68th place for him.
Meanwhile, Aru can't hide that he doesn't like this discipline. The Italian has already lost 4'45" by the time he reaches the second checkpoint - which is 93rd place for him.
Nesset (13th GC) then confirms that Karnulin has really set a great time; the Norwegian is on paper just a tad worse in time trials, but loses more than half a minute on the Ukranian! 94th place, + 2'12" for him.
Bongiorno is the best Italian in the GC so far (12th), and while this won't change today, he surely hoped to lose a bit less time. 2'01" back at the first split, 88th place.
Brenes seems to have upped his pace a bit on the second part of the course, losing less time and gaining some spots. Still, 3'27" (77th) is a big, big deficit at this point.
Who will be the highest ranked Generali rider after today's competition? Talansky (11th GC) has conceded 33" on his teammate Spilak by the first checkpoint, getting him 62nd place (+ 1'27"). He's got a 3'41" advantage, though, so that should be enough. But that wouldn't make things easier for the final week...
Kennaugh has clearly upped his pace at well on the second sector - or is it just the wind that has disappeared again? Anyway, he's now 55th, 2'42" behind Coppel.
We then get a very good first intermediate time by Shikai (10th GC), who loses only 43" and takes provisional 14th place! The wind theory seems to be pretty accurate, despite the low wind speeds...
Reis (9th GC) is almost as fast as the Chinese, to whom he concedes two seconds. 16th place, + 45". 8 riders missing at this checkpoint!
Bernal ends his race on a pretty disappointing note. He only takes 70th place, losing 4'24" today. Which is only the 13th place among the U25 riders so far - pretty disappointing for a podium contender!
There are probably two riders of whom Coppel is still afraid, the first of them being Taaramäe (8th GC). And rightfully so, as the Estonian indeed beats the best time so far by four seconds! The clock stops at 28'37"! He may have gotten older, but he's still amazingly fast! Now, let's wait for the second (and final) potential stage win contender...
But first, we have Schleck at the second checkpoint. Just like some riders before him, he speeds up on this part of the course - and gains some spots. 66th place for him, three minutes flat slower than Coppel.
The same evolution can be observed in Amador's intermediate times, as he moves up to 21st at this point. 1'40" is his deficit so far.
However, Faglum Karlsson continues his great ride and beats the Costa Rican by 6", which is a Top 20 intermediate time for the Swede! 18th place, 1'34" back.
Arndt has now already been overtaken by three riders. He's among the bottom 50, but his 8'21" deficit is by far not the worst we have seen here. Still, he surely is out of contention for a good GC result and should definitely focus on breakaways now.
Breakaways is surely not what Barguil (7th GC) is targeting in first place - but as he already loses more than two minutes on Taaramäe at the first checkpoint, he might have to change his plans... 93rd place for the Frenchman.
Spilak gave it all he had - and it doesn't even look too bad! He finishes in provisional 9th place, 1'40" behind Coppel, but less than a minute off the podium. Which of course means that he takes over the virtual GC lead - and he'll definitely move up from his 26th place.
Well, he'll definitely not overtake Kritskiy (6th GC) today. The Russian must be dreaming big now, knowing that out of all top GC contenders, only Taaramäe should be able to keep up with him today.
And that's exactly the case, as Kritskiy posts the 3rd time at the first split! He's only 9" down on the Estonian - who has just passed him by one second in the GC! If they continue like that, we can look forward to a great fight in the mountains between these two!
But of course, there are other good climbers, whereof Chiarello is certainly part. As many before him, he upped his pace on the middle section, posting the 46th time (+ 2'21").
And let's not rule out Haig (4th GC), either, as he's currently the best placed GC contender - and he's a good time trialist as well. He gets the 10th time so far, 36" down - which however means that he has already lost his advantage on Taaramäe and Kritskiy!
Bad news: the wind is rising again... However, Valls has still moved up some spots on the second part of the course as well, as he's now 79th, having lost 3'22" so far.
Budenieks (5th GC) is a typical Evonik - ELKO time trialist - hence he's outside the Top 100 at the first split. 114th, already 3'18" down. However, as Bernal didn't deliver either, he'll probably keep the 2nd place in the U25 standings.
Karnulin is still having a pretty decent ride, getting the 60th time at the second checkpoint, 2'42" down.
Aru ends his work day by losing 6'29" on current leader Coppel. 92nd place - but he'll surely drop out of the Top 100. We might see him on the attack in the next few days...
Let's be honest - Nesset is having a pretty bad day. After almost 3/4 of the race distan
Bongiorno is next at the second time check. He's not the greatest time trialist, for sure, but he isn't having his best day, either. 86th place so far, 3'33" off the best time.
Maglia Rosa Malecki is the final rider to cross the line at the first intermediate time. He does pretty well so far, losing 1'15" on Taaramäe. Which is 51st place, proving that the leader jersey is making its effect on him. With an advantage of more than 10 minutes, he should easily be able to hold on to this jersey.
Meanwhile, Talansky is the next rider at the second split. A deficit of 2'35" is the 54th place so far - about where we could expect him to land.
And as all riders are now past the first checkpoint, let's take a look at the Top 20 at this point - and at the virtual GC Top 10!
1.
Taaramäe
28'37"
11.
Cavagna
+ 37"
2.
Coppel
+ 3"
12.
Powless
+ 38"
3.
Kritskiy
+ 9"
13.
Wirtgen
+ 40"
4.
Goncalves
+ 21"
14.
Ludvigsson
+ 43"
5.
Malori
+ 26"
15.
Wohler
+ 44"
6.
Hepburn
+ 29"
16.
Campenaerts
+ 45"
7.
Van Winden
+ 32"
17.
Shikai
+ 47"
8.
Viviani
+ 34"
18.
Haugard
+ 48"
9.
Yatsevich
+ 35"
19.
Reis
+ 49"
10.
Haig
+ 36"
20.
Leung
+ 49"
Virtual GC Checkpoint 1
Rank
Rider
Stage time
Overall time
1.
Malecki
+ 1'15" (51st)
55h49'01"
2.
Taaramäe
+ 0" (1st)
+ 9'31"
3.
Kritskiy
+ 9" (3rd)
+ 9'32"
4.
Haig
+ 36" (10th)
+ 9'53"
5.
Kruijswijk
+ 1'17" (54th)
+ 10'02"
6.
Reis
+ 49" (19th)
+ 10'34"
7.
Shikai
+ 47" (17th)
+ 10'39"
8.
Talansky
+ 1'31" (69th)
+ 11'23"
9.
Barguil
+ 2'05" (96th)
+ 11'28"
10.
Karnulin
+ 1'40" (76th)
+ 11'43"
While Malecki easily holds on to his lead, Taaramäe has moved up all the way from 8th to 2nd, whereas Kritskiy jumped up from 6th to 3rd. Haig stays in 4th place, ahead of Kruijswijk, who is on his way down. Let's see how far...
Whereas the Top 4 seem to be rather safe, especially at the bottom of the Top 10 there could still be a lot of movement.
Brenes ends today's adventure on the TT bike. It probably didn't work out as well as he would have liked, as he only gets the 76th time so far (+ 4'39"). But his terrain will start tomorrow - let's see what he'll be capable of there!
Spilak still leads the virtual GC, 1'13" ahead of Kirsch, who finished his race just before Brenes. The Costa Rican is currently 3rd, 1'26" back.
The next to cross the finish line is Kennaugh. He's more than a minute faster than Brenes, taking 54th place (+ 3'37"). But he drops behind Spilak in the GC as well, losing 20" too much. Only the Top 20 remaining at the finish line!
Let's go back to the second checkpoint, where Shikai proves his good shape! The Chinese has gained quite some spots and clocks 1'21" down on Coppel, which is the 10th position so far!
Reis was two seconds slower than him at the first time check - and he's lost another 7". However, given how stacked the riders are in this zone of the rankings, a 1'30" deficit is only worth 18th place!
Which will surely be even one spot down as Taaramäe crosses the line at the second time check! The Estonian led the race by 3" at the first split - but he's now trailing the leader by 6 seconds! Whether it was the wind (which is back at 6km/h) or a different pacing strategy, we don't know, but he needs a great final section to take the stage win! Is this the chance for Kritskiy to defend his GC position?
Schleck ends his day on provisional 66th place, 4'12" down. That's 2'32" behind Spilak - but as he had an advantage of 2'37", Schleck is the new virtual GC leader! Probably not for very long, though...
To be precise, it lasted for 7", as Amador, who started behind the Luxembourger, almost caught him on the finish line. It's the 25th place for him so far, 2'19" behind Coppel. Not bad, but he surely hoped for an even stronger result. Still, he's the new virtual GC leader for the next about two minutes - probably.
Which is indeed the case, as Faglum Karlsson, who started the race 1" ahead of Amador, is as well one second faster on today's stage, taking over the same 25th place (+ 2'18") including the virtual GC lead by 2". He almost lost it on the final sector, though, as he was 6" ahead at the second split.
Now we're waiting for Kritskiy at the second time check - can he benefit from Taaramäe's slightly weaker middle part?
No, he can't, as he has lost a couple more seconds. He keeps the 3rd place on the stage, though, 33" off the leading pace. And therefore 27" behind the Estonian, who extends the gap to the Russian at this point.
Sure, there was one rider between those two top favorites - it's Barguil, who has already lost about 4 minutes so far! It's only 99th place for him and a true disappointment.
Which however is the case for Haig as well. Although he posts a Top 20 time, he has slipped down from 10th to 17th, conceding already 1'27"! That definitely wasn't a good middle section!
Chiarello posts a solid time - but no more. 56th place for him, 3'33" down, meaning that he drops behind Amador and Faglum Karlsson in the GC, but easily stays ahead of Schleck. 16 riders yet to come.
Not even dreaming about holding on to his GC position today was Arndt. And indeed, he finishes way outside the Top 100, losing more than 10 minutes. Which makes him drop to 16th, with 15 riders still to come. And it's hard to imagine someone falling even behind him.
Valls didn't have the best of days, either. He loses almost two minutes on the last 15 kilometers, making it a total deficit of 5'07" and 87th place. That's 6th place in the virtual GC, even behind Spilak.
Karnulin gained about 20" per section on Valls on the first two parts of the race - and so he did on the final sector. 68th place should be a pretty satisfying result for him (+ 4'10"). He exactly matches Chiarello's overall time, but is ranked behind the Brazilian, in 4th place.
When speaking of Chiarello, he's really the exception that proves the rule. Budenieks is a much better representative of Evonik's average TT skills - outside the Top 100. As are all his teammates except for their leader. For the youngster, it's 117th place at checkpoint 2, 6'18" down.
That can be done much better, as shown by Kruijswijk. Although he dropped down quite a few spots from first to second checkpoint, he's still putting in a decent ride, losing 2'46". That's worth provisional 69th place.
We have arrived at number 13 in GC, Nesset. Being no big time trialist, he just did what he could - which is just outside the first half of the rankings. 93rd place with a 5'44" deficit means that he loses quite some spots in the GC, dropping behind Kennaugh, Valls, Spilak, Schleck, Karnulin, Chiarello, Amador and Faglum Karlsson. So he's currently 9th.
On paper, Bongiorno is even slower in time trials - but on the road, it was the contrary. Nonetheless, he loses quite big as well, conceding 5'20" to Coppel, which is just enough for 92nd place. This makes him drop just behind Spilak, in 7th place of the provisional GC.
Maglia Rosa Malecki was the last rider to start his race - but he won't be the one finishing last, as he has already overtaken 3rd placed Mager. The Pole is still doing a good job, although his second section was a bit slower than the first one - as with all riders passing here recently. He's 69th, 2'45" back - just one second and one spot ahead of Kruijswijk.
We already talked about Mager, who is the last rider on the course. He's just outside the bottom 50, taking 126th place out of 188 riders, losing 7'13" at this point.
Now that all riders have set a time at this second checkpoint as well, let's take a look at the Top 20 - and again at the provisional GC Top 10:
1.
Coppel
48'20"
11.
Wohler
+ 1'18"
2.
Taaramäe
+ 6"
12.
Shikai
+ 1'21"
3.
Kritskiy
+ 33"
13.
Cosnefroy
+ 1'22"
4.
Malori
+ 46"
14.
Spilak
+ 1'23"
5.
Viviani
+ 57"
15.
Wirtgen
+ 1'26"
6.
Van Winden
+ 1'08"
16.
Ludvigsson
+ 1'26"
7.
Goncalves
+ 1'08"
17.
Haig
+ 1'27"
8.
Cavagna
+ 1'10"
18.
Ivars
+ 1'27"
9.
Yatsevich
+ 1'12"
19.
Campenaerts
+ 1'29"
10.
Hepburn
+ 1'15"
20.
Danacik
+ 1'29"
Virtual GC Checkpoint 2
Rank
Rider
Stage time
Overall time
1.
Malecki
+ 2'45" (69th)
56h10'14"
2.
Taaramäe
+ 6" (2nd)
+ 8'07"
3.
Kritskiy
+ 33" (3rd)
+ 8'26"
4.
Haig
+ 1'27" (17th)
+ 9'14"
5.
Shikai
+ 1'21" (12th)
+ 9'43"
6.
Reis
+ 1'30" (21st)
+ 9'45"
7.
Kruijswijk
+ 2'46" (70th)
+ 10'01"
8.
Faglum Karlsson
+ 1'34" (23rd)
+ 10'50"
9.
Amador
+ 1'40" (27th)
+ 10'57"
10.
Talansky
+ 2'35" (59th)
+ 10'57"
Kruijswijk has dropped from 5th to 7th after the middle section, with Shikai doing the exact opposite. Faglum Karlsson and Amador have entered the Top 10, kicking off Barguil and Karnulin. Talansky is struggling to stay inside, too!
Let's see what the final 15 kilometers bring us!
First, they bring us Talansky's arrival at the finish line. The US-American had an OK-ish ride, finishing in 63rd place so far and being 3'54" off Coppel's pace. This makes him lose two spots to Faglum Karlsson and Amador in the virtual GC, where he currently is 3rd.
The next to be done with this stage is Shikai. His ride was pretty much an up and down - 17th at the first split, 12th at the 2nd - and now back to 17th at the finish line. He loses 47" on the last 15 kilometers, which is a total time loss of 2'08". Nonetheless, he takes the virtual GC lead from Faglum Karlsson!
Taaramäe had a huge boost of motivation on the final kilometers, seeing Reis right ahead - and he even passes him on the closing meters! But was that enough to turn back his 6" deficit into an advantage?
Well, no. He has lost 10 additional seconds on the final part of the race, finishing this stage in provisional 2nd place, 16" down on Coppel. Who has just gotten incredibly close to his 5th GT stage win - only Kritskiy could theoretically endanger this position now!
Meanwhile, Reis will be slightly disappointed by his result. He loses 2'18", which is only 27th place. He had a decent start, but then lost quite a few positions especially on the closing sector. Which makes him drop just behind Shikai in the virtual GC, in which Taaramäe has obviously taken the lead now.
Here he is, Kritskiy - and Coppel can start his party now! The Russian shows a good race - and finishes exactly with the same time than his teammate Malori in 3rd place! However, Kritskiy seems to have been some milliseconds faster, kicking the Italian off the stage podium. Which isn't appreciated by the locals, but at least the podium spot goes the same team.
Of course, Kritskiy is now 2nd in the virtual GC, 28" behind Taaramäe.
Barguil was 7th in the GC before this stage - well, he no longer is. A loss of 5'38" today (98th place) makes him drop to 10th in the virtual GC, with 5 riders yet to come. However, the time must be more worrying than the place, as he's now more than 5 minutes behind Taaramäe already!
4th in the GC pre-stage, Haig was the best positioned GC contender. The goal of holding on to this status was however unreachable, as he drops behind both Taaramäe and Kritskiy - not unexpected, though.
Still, his 19th place on the stage (+ 2'05") isn't a bad performance, but probably not as good as he had hoped. But being the 4th best GC favorite on today's stage (with Spilak being still far away in the GC), he certainly is in a great position now!
The GC wasn't really the main target of Budenieks, anyway. So finishing 122nd with 9'19" down won't really bother him - let's see if he'll now again go KoM hunting!
Kruijswijk's main target will probably be breakaways, too - but by dropping just 5 spots in the GC (provisional 6th), that will probably not be an option right now. It's a good ride by the Dutchman, finishing provisional 69th, 3'55" back.
He did it again! Malecki easily defends his GC lead today, by being even two seconds faster than his teammate. 68th place, + 3'53". Sure, his lead has shrunk quite a bit - more than on the six previous stages combined - but there are still more than 7 minutes left. Way to go for the GC favorites!
And finally, Mager closes this race. He was 3rd in the GC before the stage, and makes a rather deep dive outside the Top 20. Today's result: 138th, 10'36" off the winning time.
As the stage winner and all the other jersey wearers are already ready, let's just head over to the victory ceremony!
And the winner is... Jerome Coppel! Despite his second decline this winter, he adds a 5th GC stage win to his impressive Palmarès - the first since 2016, nota bene! He surely benefitted from having the least headwind of all the stage favorites - but he simply pulled off an amazing performance and is today's well-deserved winner! Congratulations as well to cycleYorkshire for their first GT stage win!
Although he certainly targeted the stage win, Rein Taaramäe won't be unhappy about today's second place. He was the strongest of the GC contenders, and if Malecki hasn't suddenly become a top level climber, the Estonian now is in the pole position for winning this Giro d'Italia!
But beware of Timofey Kritskiy, who got a very good stage result with his 3rd place, too! He's still just 28" behind in the GC - one moment of abstraction, and this gap is gone!
As it might have been hard to follow all the stage results, here's an overview of the Top 20:
1.
Jerome Coppel
1h07'32"
11.
Simon Spilak
+ 1'40"
2.
Rein Taaramäe
+ 16"
12.
Kiril Yatsevich
+ 1'41"
3.
Timofey Kritskiy
+ 52"
13.
Andreas Vangstad
+ 1'51"
4.
Adrian Malori
+ 52"
14.
Sebastien Ivars
+ 1'52"
5.
Elia Viviani
+ 1'09"
15.
Benoit Cosnefroy
+ 1'53"
6.
Jose Goncalves
+ 1'25"
16.
Jakub Danacik
+ 1'54"
7.
Michael Hepburn
+ 1'29"
17.
Daniel Teklehaimanot
+ 2'01"
8.
Dennis Van Winden
+ 1'34"
18.
Victor Campenaerts
+ 2'03"
9.
Alex Wohler
+ 1'36"
19.
Jack Haig
+ 2'05"
10.
Remi Cavagna
+ 1'38"
20.
Chen Shikai
+ 2'08"
"Yes, yes, look at me, I'm still here!", could be what Kamil Malecki is thinking up on the podium. The Pole gets this jersey for the 10th time in a row - and for the 11th time in total! He may have lost almost four minutes today - but he still has quite a big reserve. Let's see how long it will last!
Because now there are really the big guns just behind him. Rein Taaramäe has moved up from 8th to 2nd, bringing the gap down to 7'09". This still looks like a lot - but with five mountain stages yet to come, it isn't that much. But Malecki has displayed a great fighting spirit so far - he won't be easy to shake off!
Timofey Kritskiy has made a jump as well, from 6th to 3rd, trailing Taaramäe by 28 seconds. Let's actually take a look at the new GC, taking the Estonian as our point of reference:
2.
Rein Taaramäe
+ 7'09"
+ 0"
3.
Timofey Kritskiy
+ 7'37"
+ 28"
4.
Jack Haig
+ 8'44"
+ 1'35"
5.
Chen Shikai
+ 9'22"
+ 2'13"
6.
Rafael Reis
+ 9'25"
+ 2'16"
7.
Steven Kruijswijk
+ 10'02"
+ 2'53"
8.
Marcus Faglum Karlsson
+ 10'26"
+ 3'17"
9.
Andrei Amador
+ 10'28"
+ 3'19"
10.
Andrew Talansky
+ 11'09"
+ 4'00"
11.
William Chiarello
+ 11'34"
+ 4'25"
12.
Denys Karnulin
+ 11'34"
+ 4'25"
13.
Warren Barguil
+ 12'23"
+ 5'14"
14.
Andy Schleck
+ 12'30"
+ 5'21"
15.
Simon Spilak
+ 12'35"
+ 5'26"
16.
Francesco Bongiorno
+ 12'39"
+ 5'30"
17.
Rafael Valls
+ 12'40"
+ 5'31"
18.
Tim Kennaugh
+ 12'55"
+ 5'46"
19.
Sigurd Nesset
+ 13'06"
+ 5'57"
20.
Alex Kirsch
+ 13'48"
+ 6'39"
21.
Gregory Brenes
+ 14'01"
+ 6'52"
24.
Fabio Aru
+ 16'38"
+ 9'29"
28.
Egan Bernal
+ 18'06"
+ 10'57"
31.
Nikias Arndt
+ 21'00"
+ 13'51"
41.
Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev
+ 23'47"
+ 16'38"
We can see that the "front duo" already has a gap to Haig, who in turn has some margin on Shikai and Reis. The fight for the positions between 10th and 20th might be tough, as this is the region where we have 7 riders within 43 seconds.
However, we have to consider that some weaker climbers are still pretty far up in this ranking - which may change already tomorrow, as we're getting to some higher and harder mountains!
Kamil Malecki is as well still the leader in the U25 standings - now with a huge margin of exactly 16 minutes on Kristaps Budenieks! Egan Bernal holds on to 3rd, but he's already 18'06" down. Let's see if some breakaways can put his jersey in danger - it's unlikely to happen otherwise.
Not much has changed in the points standings, as Arnaud Demare defends his 62 points lead ahead of Mathieu van der Poel. However, Rein Taaramäe has already moved up to 3rd place, another 10 points down - and with 5 mountain stages ahead, he could collect quite a lot of points.
Which is where the new points system might save Demare, as even by winning all mountain stages, there are only 105 points available. So by getting another good result on one of the two flat stages, he Frenchman could basically secure the jersey! If he doesn't miss the time limit on one of these tough stages...
Aleksandar Roman had another calm stage today, with no KoM points at stake. This will fundamentally change in the next few days, so his 42 points will need to be increased. Today, he still leads 8 points ahead of Petr Vakoc, and 16 points ahead of Kamil Malecki, Kristaps Budenieks, Ian Boswell and Joey Rosskopf. How will this look like tomorrow?
And finally, let's look at the team standings. Gazelle are still leading - and as expected have massively extended their lead! Aegon - Peroni are now second, 14'22" down, while cycleYorkshire have moved up to 3rd, 18'33" behind.
The best team on today's stage was Team Tinkoff - La Datcha, but this didn't have much of an impact on the overall standings. And Evonik - ELKO didn't finish last, mainly thanks to Chiarello.
That's it from an intense and really long stage, which has seen the GC taking a much clearer shape. Malecki is still wearing the Maglia Rosa - but for how long? Will he survive tomorrow's mountain stage? We'll find out!
Giro d'Italia 
