Welcome to the Chrono d’Arenberg, the unique cobbled race time trial.
The official favorites are the time trial stars, led by Würtz but the history of this race suggests that top cobblers like Wisniowski and Bewley will have a role to play.
There is a 20 km wind, which will mostly be behind the riders as Plucinski gets ready to be the first rider down the ramp.
The first rider of note on the course is Walsleben, a good all-rounder. He sets a new best at each time check. By the 3rd time check he is 35 seconds up.
Behind him we get a sense of how the different skills will balance out. Immediately behind him on the startlist is Ganna, a time-trial rider and just behind him is Matthews more of a cobbles specialist.
The first segment is just 3km and nearly all cobbles while the 2nd and 3rd are 18km and 16km with less cobbles and the final segement is 10km with a heavy dose of cobbles.
So not surprisingly Ganna lost 5 seconds to Walsleben in the first section but gained it back in the second to be 1 second ahead at the second check. While Matthews finished the first section 2 seconds ahead but was 13 seconds behind at the end of the second segment. So the early signs favor the TT riders.
At the 3rd time check Ganna is unable to add more to his lead, he actually loses 1 second to Walsleben.
Another one of the balanced riders is on course, Schäppi, but so far he is not challenging the top times.
The first of the big cobblers at the 2nd check is Polanc and he is 44 seconds off the pace.
That doesn’t look good for the cobblers but he might just be on a bad day as he lost 3 seconds to Matthews in the first cobbled section.
But the next rider through points to the opposite, one of the best time trial riders in the race, Yatsevich, comes through the second check, 37 seconds behind Ganna.
He lost 18 seconds in the first section but isn’t really able to turn it around in the second section. His time is only good for 10th at the second check. Right behind him are 3 other big TT riders all of whom lost significant time in the first 3 cobbled KM: Lammertink (19 seconds), Würtz (17 seconds) and Hepburn (26 seconds). The wind has died down, it seems to have helped the first handful of riders as their times look very good.
Lammertink does no better in the second segment and is 41 seconds down at the second check.
But Würtz does much better, he is 22 seconds behind at the second check, good enough for 4th.
Hepburn doesn’t do as well and is 1’12 down in 21st at the 2nd check.
It looks like the 3rd segment might favor the cobblers as Matthews gains 8 seconds and is only 5 seconds behind Ganna at the 3rd check.
Walsleben has set the best time at the finish, completing the course in 1 hour and 1 minute. Ganna comes home next.
He loses 1 second on the final segment and drops into 2nd. Still a great ride by the youngster, his interim times put some much more established rider to shame. Matthews comes home soon after but he is unable to sustain his challenge and drops from 5 seconds to 35 seconds off the pace. Good enough for 3rd at the moment.
Polanc completes the 3rd segment and gains 5 seconds on the leaders but his disastrous seconds second segment means he is still 39 seconds off the pace.
The next interesting time update come from the first check, Cataford, one of the better cobblers among the TT specialists, loses only 8 seconds at the first check. The wind has picked back up again. A few riders behind him, the defending champion, Dillier, loses only 6 seconds.
At the 3rd time check Yatsevich has made real headway, cutting his deficit to Ganna in half to 19 seconds.
Behind him Lammertink has also made good progess in the 3rd sector cutting his deficit to 23 seconds.
The variety of wind conditions, road conditions and rider types is making this TT hard to devine. And the turnaround continues, Würtz has set the new best time at the 3rd check, by 14 seconds. Having lost 22 seconds in the first 21 kilometers he has gained 36 in the last 15.
But Hepburn doesn’t enjoy the same turn around, he 1’26 down at the 3rd check.
Polanc finishes 1 minute down on Walsleben, the cobbler not able to make any progress in the last segment.
Now we are getting some good times at the first time check. Senechal, a pure cobbler, lost only 2 seconds to Matthews (who still has the best time at the first check) as did Kaczmarek, a TT rider with some solid cobble skills.
Two thirds of the riders are now finished or on the course. 24 riders to start including most of the top cobblers. So now seems like a good chance to take stock of the very fluid situation. The top 20 at each check looks like this (check 4 is the finish):
Campenaerts passes the second check, he is only down 10 seconds. Best time here since Ganna.
Going later has definitely helped. Cataford passes the 2nd check next and he takes the lead by 16 seconds over Ganna.
The 4th sector isn’t kind to Yatsevich, the first of the pure TT riders to finish. He was 19 seconds behind Ganna at the 3rd check but finishes 43 seconds behind. Will Würtz’ gains reverse as well?
The defending champion powers his way to the 2nd check, he will expect to take the lead.
And he doesn’t quite, he matches Cataford’s time but slots into second.
Lammertink finishes, also a poor last section for him, he is 51 seconds behind. Würtz is next.
And he gives back 15 seconds and slots into second, on the same time, but behind, Walsleben. The last section doesn’t seem to favor the TT riders. So Würtz ends up gaining 36 seconds on the 3rd sector but losing it on the other 3 to finish on the same time as Walsleben.
But it seems likely that these times will all be surpassed as Janse van Rensburg has become the third rider to surpass Ganna at the 2nd check (+’09 to Cataford), after almost 40 riders failed to do so.
Proof the conditions are getting better comes at the 3rd check, a TT outsider, Rajapakshage, comes in just 1 second behind Würtz. We will see if he can do better in the last section.
At the first check one of the best all-rounders, Anderberg, has become the first rider to match Matthews time, although he is second in the standings.
A few riders earlier Breen had come within 1 second.
Campenaerts passes the 3rd check and knocks Würtz out of first by 7 seconds. His time on the 3rd segment was a little slower but he had lost a lot less on the first two.
But Campanaerts’ time on the top at that check is short lived, 2 riders later Cataford puts a huge 50 seconds into his time.
He was not just ahead after the 2nd sector but put another 19 seconds into Würtz in the 3rd sector. Dillier crosses next, he wasn’t quite as strong, he is 8 seconds behind the Canadian champion, but good enough for second. They will battle it out on the last sector to take the hot seat. Shortly afterwards Janse van Rensburg slots into 3rd at the 3rd check, 29 seconds behind.
But it seem like those times may not hold up as Cosnefroy, a good TT rider and competent cobbler has gone 5 seconds faster than Cataford at the second check. Bad news for the pure cobblers though, Senechal who was only 2 seconds back on the first check lost a minute in the second sector. Similarly the TT riders with very weak cobbles aren’t doing well - Sterobo is 1’12 down at the 2nd check.
I am sure when he sat down in the hot seat just a few riders into the race Walsleben didn’t think he would sit there for long. And I am pretty sure he wouldn’t be have expected to give it up to Rajapakshage but that is what happened. The Sri Lankan is in the lead by 4 seconds. He probably shouldn’t get comfortable.
More bad news for the cobblers. Breen, who isn’t terrible in the TTs has gone from 1 second back at the first check to 57 seconds at the 2nd.
And the first of the riders we expect to challenge for the top times has reached the finish. Campenaerts beats Rajapakshage by 3 seconds.
Cataford comes next and he adds to his lead, 1’05 better and the first under 1 hour for the course. He is the first of the contenders not to lose time to Walsleben on the last sector (their time were the same).
Next to cross is the defending champion:
He can’t make up time and is still second, 10 seconds behind Cataford. Janse van Rensburg crosses next 40 seconds behind, he is in third.
And it looks more likely these will be top times as Cosnefroy suffers in the 3rd section and goes from 5 seconds ahead to 13 seconds behind Cataford. Still good enough for 3rd and he should be strong in the last section.
And we aren’t seeing a lot of strong times earlier in the course. Anderberg lost 28 seconds in the 2nd section, only good enough for 8th. We still have the top cobblers to go.
Schädlich doesn’t look like he is going to threaten. He is 1’01 down at the second check. The wind has died down again.
At the first check the last rider, Bewley, has crossed. He is 6 seconds off the pace.
Wisniowski was only a little better, 4 seconds behind. You could have got long odds on Matthews having the best time at the first time check, but that would have been a winning bet.
At the finish Kaczmarek comes home, he has been solid at all 3 time checks (5th, 4th, 5th).
And he slots into 3rd at the finish, just 30 seconds off the pace. He seems to have ridden when the weather conditions were most favorable. Finishing just before him is Senechal who finished in 21st 2’19 down.
Right behind him Cosnefroy finishes, with a great time, just 9 seconds off the lead, 1 second ahead of Dillier.
Cosnefroy's outstanding toughness helping him out on this ride.
Anderberg pases the 3rd time check 47 seconds back in 6th but tfew of the riders on course are anywhere near the best times. All eyes are on the two big cobblers who will soon reach the 2nd time check.
The signs aren’t looking good as Per, a strong cobbler and solid TT rider crosses the 2nd check 44 seconds behind.
Wisniowski does a little better and is 38 seconds off the best time, good enough for 14th.
Much worse for Bewley, he is already 1’02 behind at the 2nd check.
At the finish all-rounder Cavagna finishes 59 seconds off the pace in 7th for Puma, a quiet but solid ride.
Anderberg took 6th, just ahead of him, 44 seconds off the page, a good day for the all-rounders.
A little later Schädlich crosses, he just doesn’t have the cobbles skills and his timing was bad riding late, he loses 2’18.
Per has crossed the 3rd time check in 12th 1’04 back. The last segment seems to favor the cobblers, so maybe he can make up time.
At the finish the Norwegian champion Haugard is another one without the cobbles skills, he loses 2’42 which puts him in 37th. Whereas Altur doesn’t have the TT skills, he loses 2’34, a few slots ahead of the Norwegian.
Last year Bohli finished 3rd but this year he is 19th 1’59 down after the first leg. UBS’ hopes lie with Dillier.
At the 3rd check Wisniowski is in 8th, 53 seconds behind. He can keep himself in this with a strong last segment. Not so good for Bewley, he is 1’40 behind.
Per finishes 1’02 behind, he gained 2 seconds on Cataford in the last section and sits in 8th.
Wisniowski powers up the final cobbles section.
Not as strong as he will have hoped, he lost 5 seconds versus Cataford, good enough for 7th, but 58 seconds behind the leader. He did pass his minute man Gerts who suffers a disaster, 4’01 off the lead, which is particularly bad given his time trials skills aren’t that weak.
And the final rider home is Bewley who loses 2’00 (23rd).
So the first leg ends with 69 of the 72 riders 30 seconds or more off the lead. In this leg it was important to not only find the sweet spot between cobbles and time trial skills but also to find the sweet spot in the weather. But the MG UCI made this a 2-leg race to even out some of that weather luck. This party isn’t over.
Welcome to the second leg of the Chrono d’Arenberg. Cataford leads by 10 seconds. A few days ago in Namibia at the Windhoek IT he had poor second leg and dropped from 8th to 13th in the GC. Higher stakes today, he will hope for a better second leg.
We pick up coverage as the 20th placed rider after the first leg, Yatsevich, completes the course.
He finishes 1’04 behind current leader Lammertink, good enough for 7th on the leader board. The times are a little slower today as Lammertink’s time would only have been good enough for 45th yesterday. There is a 16km cross headwind for most of the course today.
Here is the new 20th to 30th ranks as it stands now.
Rider
Cumulative Position
Gain (Loss)
Cumulative Time
Steven Lammertink
20
6
1'04'27
Sam Bewley
21
2
+ '11
Kiril Yatsevich
22
-2
+ '56
Vegard Breen
23
1
+ 1'08
Lucas Schädlich
24
7
+ 1'13
Tom Wirtgen
25
16
+ 1'26
Martin Schäppi
26
11
+ 1'27
Sam Harrison
27
0
+ 1'40
Harry Tanfield
28
21
+ 1'44
Szymon Rekita
29
10
+ 1'45
Tom Bohli
30
-9
+ 1'47
Jan Polanc
30
-1
s.t
Some big shifts, youngsters Wirtgen, Schäppi, and particularly, Tanfield making big gains. Biggest losers dropping out of the top 30 include Kuroeda and Jallays who both have dropped more than 10 places and are out of the top 30.
No clear pattern in the type of rider thriving and not thriving. Lammertink’s time is still the best at the 3rd time check. Out on the course defending champion Dillier has just finished the 2nd time check, in 2nd place - 7 seconds off the pace -- amazingly the best time at the 2nd check still belongs to Lammertink who finished 26th in the first leg.
Next through the 2nd check is 2nd place on the first leg, Cosnefroy.
And he is 30 seconds off the pace and 23 seconds behind Dillier. So he has already lost 2nd place, his podium position is a lttle safer as current 4th and 5th, Kaczmarek and Janse van Rensburg were both also 30 seconds off the pace.
Next across is the leader Cataford.
And he beats Dillier by a second extending his overall lead to 11 seconds. No early signs of another Windhoek but there are still 28 km’s to ride.
So with all the riders through the 2nd check here is the virtual top 20 at that check.
Virtual GC
Rider
GC Change
Cum. Time
1
Alexandor Cataford
0
1'26'00
2
Silvan Dillier
1
+ '12
3
Benoit Cosnefroy
-1
+ '34
4
Jakub Kaczmarek
0
+ '55
5
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
0
+ 1'05
6
Philipp Walsleben
6
+ 1'15
7
Remi Cavagna
1
+ 1'17
8
Hampus Anderberg
-2
+ 1'18
9
David Per
0
+ 1'23
10
Lukasz Wisniowski
-3
+ 1'24
11
Victor Campenaerts
-1
+ 1'32
12
Mads Würtz
1
+ 1'32
13
Filippo Ganna
1
+ 1'32
14
Tushantha Rajapakshage
-3
+ 1'50
15
Steven Lammertink
11
+ 1'58
16
Ahmad Arissol
0
+ 1'59
17
Josue Gonzalez Cortes
0
+ 2'01
18
Kiril Yatsevich
2
+ 2'16
19
Sam Bewley
4
+ 2'18
20
Andrei Nechita
-1
+ 2'20
The big mover other than Lammertink, is Walsleben, the German veteran with another great rider in the 2nd leg. The most disappointing day so far probably belongs to Wisniowski. The Road Race World Champion dropping 3 slots to 10th.
Up a the 3rd check Walsleben continues to roll, he is just 1 second off Lammertink’s time now, gaining 7 seconds in the 3rd leg.
Next rider through is Rajapakshage, the Sri Lankan is 1’22 down another 34 seconds lost. Not a good 2nd leg for him.
Another all rounder having a strong day is Cavagna.
At the third check he is 29 seconds off the pace losing just 6 seconds in that segment and keeping the pressure on the riders in front of him.
The World Champion crosses the 3rd check 37 seconds off the pace, he also loses only 6 seconds in that segment. That means he has stabilized things and may be clawing back some of his lost positions.
At the finish we have future star Ganna, he has put together two solid rides and crosses 43 seconds off the pace, good enough for 3rd among those have finished.
Anderberg has passed the 3rd check and he is 54 seconds off the pace. He has now lost 4 places on the day. He is followed by Janse van Rensburg who is also struggling (+0’50). He has lost his virtual 5th and is now behind Walsleben and Cavagna. He could lose two more slots if he doesn’t improve in the last segment.
Würtz is at the finish
He finishes at +1’04, which means he drops behind Lammertink, Bewley and Ganna in the GC. Not a great race for the best pure TT rider in the field.
Walsleben is next. Can he set a new best time for the leg and continue his fight up the standings?
And he does it, Aker-Mot will be thrilled with this. He puts 10 seconds into Lammertink in the last segment and leads by 9 seconds. He has already moved up from 12th to a likely 5th, if 4th placed Kaczmarek doesn’t finish strongly he could pass him as well.
Kaczmarek is next at the 3rd tie check.
He is 44 seconds off the pace. Which means he is 43 seconds behind Walsleben. He started the day 42 second ahead so he is back into 5th. Only by 1 second but he will need a brilliant last segment to regain that place given Walsleben’s ride.
Dillier is next at the 3rd check, +4 seconds, so he gained a little ground. He is followed by Cosnefroy (+47). He had 1’03 on Walsleben to start the day, he could still lose his podium spot. Then the leader Cataford at +5, he keep a 10 second cushion for the last segment.
The virtual GC after the 3rd time check looks like this:
Virtual GC
Rider
GC Change
Cum. Time
1
Alexandor Cataford
0
1'45'04
2
Silvan Dillier
1
+ '10
3
Benoit Cosnefroy
-1
+ '52
4
Philipp Walsleben
8
+ 1'09
5
Jakub Kaczmarek
-1
+ 1'10
6
Remi Cavagna
2
+ 1'24
7
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
-2
+ 1'26
8
David Per
1
+ 1'28
9
Lukasz Wisniowski
-2
+ 1'31
10
Hampus Anderberg
-4
+ 1'34
11
Filippo Ganna
3
+ 1'45
12
Mads Würtz
1
+ 1'53
13
Victor Campenaerts
-3
+ 1'56
14
Steven Lammertink
12
+ 1'59
15
Vegard Breen
9
+ 2'03
16
Sam Bewley
7
+ 2'20
17
Ahmad Arissol
-1
+ 2'21
18
Tushantha Rajapakshage
-7
+ 2'25
19
Kiril Yatsevich
1
+ 2'39
20
Andrei Nechita
-1
+ 2'40
At the finish Rajapakshage continues to struggle. He loses 1’57 and 7 places on the GC.
Campenaerts is at 1’24 (-5 places). Thanks to those two poor times Würtz hangs on to 14th.
Next rider to finish is Per.
He is 34 seconds off the best time. He started the day within 4 seconds of the next two to finish. As they come across Cavagna is at +38 and Wisniowski is +41. Which means the 3 of them reverse order, but they all lose a place to the flying Walsleben.
A mixed result for the World Champion as he ends up on the wrong end of a close contest between these 3 but has a top ten time and should gain on some of the riders to come.
He gains one place the best young rider from the first leg, Anderberg finishes on +1’07. He drops behind all 3 of the prior riders and into GC 10th
Then the South African Champion finishes, losing 1’10 and he too drops behind all 3. The Minion drops from 5th to 9th in the second leg.
Kaczmarek finishes next on +’53, he is unable to regain time on Walsleben, although he holds off everyone else, which means he will drop to 5th.
Dillier crosses next.
.
He is 1 second behind Walsleben. It has been a worthy title defense but it looks like he will need Cataford to fade in the last segment to retain his title.
But first Cosnefroy finishes at +54, good for 10th on the day and plenty good enough to protect his podium finish.
.
Cataford looks composed right up to the finish.
.
And he finishes 3 seconds off the pace and confirms himself as the winner of the 2020 Chrono d’Arenberg. He never looked in real danger today. He and Dillier were the class of the field taking the overall 1-2, over 50 seconds ahead of 3rd place, and occupying 4 of the 6 podiums spots in the individual legs.
Congrats also to the flying Walsleben for an outstanding 2nd leg which earned him 4th and to Cosnefroy who's similarly dynamic first leg was key to his 3rd place finish.
Chrono d'Arenberg 
