Welcome to the first leg of the Windhoek ITT, which will be closely followed in this report by the second leg. Both legs will occur take place on a 41km flat course and combined times will determine the winner. The favorites are:
The first rider out of the start is Van More. There is a 25km wind, that if it stays in the same direction will be a headwind in the last section of the route, which is roughly rectangular.
Former winner Ford is one of the earliest of the top riders to the first time check but he is 6 seconds behind current leader Laizer
The first man to beat Laizer at the first time check is Kittel, who goes 3 seconds faster.
Meanwhile Laizer is leading at the second check 12 seconds better than Ford . Another former winner Mottin has the new second best time at the first check, 2 seconds behind Kittel.
With 20 riders through the the first check the top 20 looks like this. Vahtra is at 1’50 down off the bottom of the table.
At the second check Kittel was only able to add 1 second to his lead over Laizer who has finished the course in 54 minutes even.
Not a great day for Ford he loses another 10 seconds in the last segment and finishes the first leg 22 seconds adrift of Laizer.
Nareklishvili, who had strong splits at each time check, matches Laizer on 54 minutes but slots into provisional second for the first leg.
Back at the first time check Spanish Champion Gonzalez Salas has beaten his teammate’s time by 7 seconds to make it a 1-2 for Repsol
Mottin loses ground in the second segment, dropping to 4th, 10 seconds behind Kittel.
The second check leader board looks like this:
At the first check Atkins has split up the Repsol 1-2 beating Kittel by one second.
Kittel heads home:
He added 10 seconds to his lead in the last segment and leads by 14 seconds at the finish.
Defending champion Cruz has passed the first time check and is in 7th, 14 seconds behind Gonzalez Salas.
Right behind him South African Champion, Janse van Rensburg, becomes the new 2nd place rider at the first check, 6 seconds off the pace:
The last of the team leaders are coming through the first check now and the next one across is Hofer who pips Janse van Rensburg for 2nd. The two of them and Atkins are all 6 seconds behind the leader.
Gonzalez Salas has passed the 2nd check and extended his lead over his teammate by 4 seconds to 11 seconds.
He is going to need that time because Howson has matched his time at the first check, although he slots into second on the leader board.
At the second check Atkins has faded losing 9 seconds on the leader and dropping to provisional 5th, he was 2nd when he crossed the first check.
Farfetch look to continue their hot season as Paillot takes the lead at the first check by 1 second.
Only 5 men left to pass the first check but they are some of the top favorites. Schädlich is the next to cross, he is 5 seconds behind Paillot, while next across, Canadian Champion Cataford, loses 8 seconds, only good enough for 9th at the check.
Next at the first check is another national champion, New Zealand’s Sergent, he slots into 4th but just 2 seconds off the lead.
Just our two biggest favorites left to pass the first check now Zmorka and Fiedler. Before we get their updates the first 20 riders have finished the course and the leaderboard at the finish of the first leg looks like this:
Kittel still holds the hot seat but as he is now 9th at the first check, he will definitely be giving that up.
At the second check both Hofer and Janse van Rensburg lost a little time and dropped behind Kittel
Big news for Repsol, Zmorka has taken back first place at the first check. He is 4 seconds ahead, which is a lot considering how close most of the riders are.
The last rider, German Champion Fiedler can’t match him. He will be disappointed with 5th, 6 seconds off the pace.
But there is still a long way to go. The final top 20 at the first check are:
Howson passes the 2nd check:
He was tied with Gonzalez Salas at the first check but drops to 1 second behind at the 2nd check.
But the third segment is going to be the decisive one. Gonzalez Salas finishes the course and adds 17 seconds to his lead over this teammate, Kittel. He is the new hot seat occupant with a 28 second lead.
Paillot is the new leader at the 2nd check maintaining his 1 second lead over Gonzalez Salas. But can he hold it for the the third segment, which at 16km accounts for the biggest piece of the course?
Schädlich crosses the 2nd check next and his time is also stable, he drops 1 second to 11 seconds behind the leader, good enough for 4th at the moment.
The second segment isn’t kind to Cataford who drops 6 seconds to 19 seconds off the pace, outside the provisional top ten. While Sergent holds his deficit at 2 seconds.
Next across is Zmorka and he is on fire. While most riders haven’t gained or lost much in the second segment he added 8 seconds to his lead taking him to 12 seconds ahead of now 2nd placed Paillot, IF he can keep this up he could take a significant lead into the 2nd leg.
Final rider at the 2nd check is Fiedler, he needs to limit his deficit. And he can’t do it, he loses 8 seconds to the Ukranian and is in 4th, 14 seconds off the pace.
Final standings at the 2nd check are:
Now all the attention can focus on the finish. Most recent significant rider to finish is Atkins, who is in 3rd, 32 seconds behind leader Gonzalez Salas and 4 seconds behind second place Kittel.
Next to finish is Cruz, he won’t be pulling off back-to-back wins he is 1 minute down.
Next in, with a strong time, is Janse van Rensburg, he is just 1 second behind Kittel in provisional 3rd, he is likely to be in the top 10 after the first leg.
The next rider across does even better, Hofer gains 4 seconds on Kittel in the last section and finishes 1 second ahead of him in provisional 2nd (still 27 seconds behind Gonzales Salas).
The next rider is Howson, he was slightly behind the Gonzalez Salas at the first two checks but he turns it around in the 3rd segment and takes the lead. He is on the same time but the milliseconds are in his favor.
But Howson has barely warmed the hot seat and he has to give it up as Paillot beats his time by 6 seconds, 3 more than he had at the 2nd check. Next man in is Schädlich and he can’t make any progress and loses 3 seconds to Paillot. He is 4th in the provisional rankings.
Cataford after starting poorly puts in a good last segment. Only good enough for provisional 5th overall but he was 14th at the second check so with only 3 riders to go he has made significant progress.
Next up is Sergent, and he too delivers a great last segment going from 3 seconds behind Paillot to 7 seconds ahead, as the hot seat changes hands again.
But his tenure doesn’t last a single rider, as next man home is Zmorka and he beats Sergent by 33 seconds. Sergent was good in the last segment but Zmorka was better.
Fiedler also finishes well moving into 2nd on the first leg, 26 seconds behind Zmorka. Despite outperforming most of the other riders he lost 12 seconds to the Ukranian in the last segment.
So Marlen Zmorka wins the first leg of the Windhoek ITT and carries a healthy cushion into the second leg.
At the other end of the spectrum Vahtra loses 9’55 putting him 4’43 out of 2nd to last.
Full first leg results
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Marlen Zmorka
Repsol - Netflix
52'30
2
Jacob Fiedler
Mapei
+ 27
3
Jesse Sergent
GCN Racing
+ 33
4
Yoann Paillot
Farfetch Pro Cycling
+ 40
5
Damien Howson
Duolingo
+ 46
6
Mario Gonzalez Salas
Repsol - Netflix
s.t.
7
Lucas Schädlich
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 56
8
Alexandor Cataford
Podium Ambition
+ 1'07
9
Andreas Hofer
DK - SVA Zalgiris
+ 1'14
10
Marcel Kittel
Repsol - Netflix
+ 1'15
11
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Minions
+ 1'16
12
Josh Atkins
Mapei
+ 1'19
13
Richard Laningo Laizer
Project: Africa
+ 1'30
14
Giorgi Nareklishvili
DK - SVA Zalgiris
s.t.
15
Hugues Mottin
Swisslion Cycling Team
+ 1'31
16
Freddy Cruz
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 1'47
17
Michael Ford
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 1'52
18
Sean Downey
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 1'53
19
Faycal Hamza
Project: Africa
s.t.
20
Alfredo Balloni
Mapei
+ 1'55
21
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Swisslion Cycling Team
+ 1'57
22
Chad Haga
Minions
+ 2'00
23
Stefan De Bod
Farfetch Pro Cycling
+ 2'04
24
Metkel Kiflay
Project: Africa
+ 2'09
25
John Archibald
GCN Racing
+ 2'28
26
Welle Jallays
DK - SVA Zalgiris
+ 2'29
27
Alexandre Geniez
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 2'41
28
Chris Barton
Minions
+ 2'44
29
Steven Burke
GCN Racing
+ 2'46
30
Izidor Penko
Swisslion Cycling Team
+ 3'13
31
Josue Gonzalez Cortes
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 3'16
32
Kristian Vanderpool
Podium Ambition
+ 3'23
33
Edoardo Affini
Farfetch Pro Cycling
+ 3'40
34
Brent Van Moer
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 3'55
35
Darren Matthews
Podium Ambition
+ 4'01
36
Elias Abou Rachid
Duolingo
s.t.
37
Dilmurdjon Siddikov
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 4'42
38
Alexys Brunel
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 5'12
39
Norman Vahtra
Duolingo
+ 9'55
____________
Welcome to the 2nd of the Windhoek ITT. The winds have pretty much died down here for the second leg. We pick up coverage with 15th placed rider Mottin about to start.
So far no major movement among the riders who have reached the intermediate check points. The first of the major time trial riders to reach the time check is Balloni, he takes the lead. He was 20th in the first leg but 16th placed Cruz is only 8 seconds ahead of him.
The first man to match Balloni is defending champion Cruz (16th in first leg) who beats him by fractions of a second. Still Balloni’s time looks good and he is on track to gain some positions.
Next man across is Mottin. He sets a new best time, 5 seconds ahead. He has a few riders seconds ahead of him after the first leg so he has something to shoot for.
Next rider is Nareklishvili, not a great time for him, he loses 11 seconds. Ditto the next rider, Laizer, 13th at the start of the day he is going to lose some places, he is 18 seconds off Mottin at the first check.
Next is Atkins who loses 5 seconds. It is getting closer as Janse van Rensburg loses 2 seconds to Mottin.
Mottin’s time still looking strong as Kittel is 6 seconds back at the first check. Kittel will have been hoping to improve on his 10th place from the first leg but this isn’t a great start.
The next rider across, Hofer, sets the new best time. Same time as Mottin but ahead on the leaderboard.
Cataford loses 9 seconds which means he is losing one place to Hofer at the first check.
At the second check Cruz has taken the lead by 1 second over Balloni. But the Italian is still gaining 3 slots on the day. While Ford is struggling and has dropped from 17th in the first leg to a provisional 21st, the biggest loser so far.
Schädlich sets a new best time at the first check, 1 second ahead.
Simultaneously, Mottin sets a new best time at the 2nd check, 11 seconds up on Cruz. Also, with less wind we are seeing much better times, Burke, who was in 29th in the first leg, has just finished the course in less time than Zmorka in the first leg.
At the first check Gonzalez Salas drops 4 seconds to Schädlich. He has 10 to spare.
Next rider across is Howson and he sets the new best time 1 second ahead.
But immediately afterwards Paillot goes 2 seconds better and then Sergent beats him by 2 seconds.
Fiedler breaks the streak he can only match Paillot, 2 seconds behind Sergent. He started the day 6 seconds ahead of the Kiwi.
And at the second check Laizer continues to lose ground, he has lost 34 seconds and 3 positions.
Finally, Zmorka crosses, he is adding to his lead, he is 5 seconds ahead at the first time check.
With all the rides through the first time check the virtual GC top 25 looks like this:
Rider
Cumulative Position
Gain (Loss)
Cumulative Time
Marlen Zmorka
1
0
1'07'38
Jacob Fiedler
2
0
+ '35
Jesse Sergent
3
0
+ '38
Yoann Paillot
4
0
+ '47
Damien Howson
5
0
+ '55
Mario Gonzalez Salas
6
0
+ 1'01
Lucas Schädlich
7
0
+ 1'06
Andreas Hofer
8
1
+ 1'25
Alexandor Cataford
9
-1
+ 1'28
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
10
1
+ 1'29
Marcel Kittel
11
-1
+ 1'33
Josh Atkins
12
0
+ 1'35
Hugues Mottin
13
2
+ 1'43
Giorgi Nareklishvili
14
0
+ 1'57
Richard Laningo Laizer
15
-2
+ 1'59
Freddy Cruz
16
0
+ 1'64
Alfredo Balloni
17
3
+ 2'12
Faycal Hamza
18
1
+ 2'15
Sean Downey
19
-1
+ 2'17
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
19
2
+ 2'17
Michael Ford
21
-4
+ 2'19
Chad Haga
22
0
+ 2'22
Metkel Kiflay
23
1
+ 2'35
Stefan De Bod
24
-1
+ 2'38
Welle Jallays
25
1
+ 2'48
Moving to the 2nd check Mottin’s time is looking strong. Kittel (+14) Atkins (+10), Hofer (+2), and Janse van Rensburg (+6) have all fallen short.
Next man is Cataford, he is 19 seconds behind which means he is in danger of losing his spot in the top 10.
Finally Mottin is beaten, by Schädlich, but only by milliseconds. Next man across is Gonzalez Salas he is 7 seconds behind, meaning he only has 2 seconds left of his GC lead over Schädlich.
Zmorka is going well but it looks like he will be the only Repsol rider in the top 5 despite them having 3 of the top 5 in the preview.
Cruz takes his last pedal strokes as Windhoek TT champion.
He does take the provisional lead by 3 seconds but it won’t stand up. In other news at the finish Ford has lost another place and is down to 22nd. Nepomnyachsniy has joined Balloni in gaining 3 slots.
Following Cruz at the finish is Mottin. Based on the intermediate checks his time should be strong.
He does take first, but only adds 3 seconds to his lead over Cruz, bringing it to 14 seconds.
Back at the second check Howson has gone 1 second better than Schädlich.
But again Paillot betters Howson, cruising through 3 seconds ahead.
And again Sergent betters Paillot, he has a 4 second lead.
Laizer reaches the finish line, he is 57 seconds behind the leader and will drop from 13th to 18th. A tough second leg for the Tanzanian.
Fiedler comes across the 2nd check 3 seconds behind Sergent. He is wearing he green jersey awarded to the rider finishing 2nd in the first leg. He will need to stay focused if he doesn’t want to lose that 2nd place.
Zmorka crosses next and he is rolling to victory, he has expanded his lead to 9 seconds.
With all riders through here is the virtual GC at the 2nd check.
Rider
Cumulative Position
Gain (Loss)
Cumulative Time
Marlen Zmorka
1
0
1'23'06
Jacob Fiedler
2
0
+ '40
Jesse Sergent
3
0
+ '42
Yoann Paillot
4
0
+ '53
Damien Howson
5
0
+ 1'02
Mario Gonzalez Salas
6
0
+ 1'11
Lucas Schädlich
7
0
+ 1'13
Andreas Hofer
8
1
+ 1'34
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
9
2
+ 1'40
Alexandor Cataford
10
-2
+ 1'44
Marcel Kittel
11
-1
+ 1'47
Josh Atkins
12
1
+ 1'47
Hugues Mottin
13
2
+ 1'49
Giorgi Nareklishvili
14
0
+ 2'08
Freddy Cruz
15
1
+ 2'16
Richard Laningo Laizer
16
-3
+ 2'22
Alfredo Balloni
17
3
+ 2'25
Faycal Hamza
18
1
+ 2'32
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
19
2
+ 2'33
Sean Downey
20
-2
+ 2'36
Michael Ford
21
-4
+ 2'38
Chad Haga
22
0
+ 2'39
Metkel Kiflay
23
1
+ 2'55
Welle Jallays
24
2
+ 3'05
Stefan De Bod
25
-2
+ 3'08
John Archibald
26
0
+ 3'08
At the finish Mottin’s time is holding up as Janse van Rensburg lost 1 more second (+7), Atkins 4 more (+14), and Kittel 3 more (+17). We will need the final timings for confirmation but it looks like Mottin will pass Atkins and Kittel.
Hofer is the first rider to gain on Mottin in the last section and finishes on the same time for the 2nd leg.
Cataford finishes next, 30 seconds behind Mottin.
A disastrous 2nd leg for Cataford he drops 5 places and sits in 13th now.
As at the prior check Schädlich is the first one to beat Mottin, he leads by 5 seconds but he won’t have long in the hot seat.
Gonzalez Salas won’t be the one to beat him, he loses 15 seconds and his GC position to Schädlich. Not a great 2nd leg for two of the Repsol riders.
Howson matches Schädlich with the same time. He will stay 5th in the GC.
Paillot finishes 2 seconds better he will stay 4th.
Sergent again betters Paillot, growing his lead to 6 seconds. That puts the pressure on Fiedler to protect 2nd place.
Fiedler powers home.
He loses 6 seconds, that was his lead at the beginning of the day, it is going to come down to the fractions.
But there are no fractions needed to determine the winner. That will be Zmorka by 50 seconds over the two legs.
When the final timing comes in Sergent snatches 2nd by 1 second from Fiedler.
Vahtra limits his losses to 7’09 in the second leg but still manages to double the deficit of the penultimate rider over the 2 legs.
Windhoek ITT 
