Stage 1 and already a chance for some of the GC contenders to put some distance to their time-trial handicapped rivals. Today's stage is short but it constantly rises from start to finish, so the time gaps could become larger than one would expect for a stage of this length. Let's see how this one goes.
Favourites
MON
HIL
PRL
Izagirre
74
81
77
Brändle
76
71
79
Lopez
79
82
72
Oliveira
74
73
78
Bobridge
69
83
77
Choi
80
74
74
Brown
75
73
77
Nepomnyachsniy
76
73
76
Rosskopf
73
75
77
Dunbar
75
75
75
Siskevicius and Trofimov were the early leaders, tied at 9'20".
Our cameras pick up Rosskopf as the first rider of interest. he doesn't disappoint the race director, and sets a new best time of 8'57".
Vilela comes through 6 seconds slower.
Konrad is a couple of seconds faster.
Van Baarle rides well and sets a fastest time of 8'51".
Waeytens does not do well, but that was to be expected. he is 28 seconds down.
Roe improves the best time by a second to 8'50".
Ivo Oliveira is 9 seconds down.
kangert ties the best time set by Roe!
Tennant doesn't do so well and is 13 seconds down.
Turgis loses 41 seconds and will have some catching up to do in the next two stages.
Omarsson falls short by 6 seconds.
Ayala is a couple more seconds slower.
Mora is a further second down.
Nepomnyachsniy is the new leader with a time of 8'45".
Lammertink doesn't quite like the profile and ends up 8 seconds down.
Herrada misses out on the best time by 2 seconds.
Kung posts the same time as Herrada.
Geoghegan Hart, on the other hand, goes fastest! 8'43" is the new time to beat.
Durbridge has a day to forget, losing 23 seconds. Looks like just TT skills isn't cutting it today.
Domagalski ties the best time of 8'43.
Kaczmarek falls short by 9 seconds.
Gidich too posts the exact same time as the previous rider.
And we have a new leader again! It's Dunbar with a time of 8'40".
Jose Fernandes is 5 seconds down.
Chaves loses 19 seconds, which isn't too bad, but there's still better riders to come.
Coppel can't do it and ends up 2 seconds down.
Giogieri is 15 seconds slower.
Fung is 8 seconds in arrears.
Benito is a second better off.
Dyball comes close, within 2 seconds of the best time.
Betancourt isn't known for his time-trialling and it shows as he loses 37 seconds.
Goh does well and loses just 4 seconds.
De Bod is 11 seconds off the pace.
Brandle shows why he was highly rated for this stage and takes the lead, but only by a mere second. 8'39" is his time.
Chiarello is 5 seconds slower.
Hofer will forget this stage very soon, after losing 39 seconds.
Brown is 9 seconds down.
Bazhkou can't quite get close, losing 20 seconds at the moment.
Boswell is down by 39 seconds.
Nelson Oliveira gets close but he's still 3 seconds slower.
Meurisse doesn't fall too far back, losing 23 seconds at the moment.
Gautier has a bad day and is 57 seconds off the pace,
Prevar doesn't do too well either. 45 seconds is his deficit.
Paulinho loses 29 seconds.
Karnulin is 8 seconds off the pace.
Izagirre shows his mettle and puts in the best time on the day so far. It's 8'34".
McCarthy is on the opposite end of the favourites' spectrum, being already 1'2" down today.
Bakelants loses 34 seconds.
Borges too loses a decent chunk of time. 40 seconds is that loss.
Beltran does well actually to limit his losses to 23 seconds.
Choi with a fast time there! It's not enough to beat Izagirre but he moves into 2nd, just 2 seconds down.
Sagan loses 29 seconds.
Yates does better, 12 seconds better.
Gerts does worse, being 33 seconds in arrears.
Lutsenko ends up 20 seconds in arrears.
Bobridge can't match Izagirre and falls 16 seconds short.
Neither can Lopez, who is a further second slower. He is the last rider to start and finish today.
Today's winner - Ion Izagirre.
Izagirre lands the expected early blow in the GC, with Choi and Dunbar the others benefiting from today's stage. Brandle lives up to his billing too and stands on the podium currently. The likes of Bobridge, Yates, Lopez, Lutsenko and Beltran are all within 25 seconds of the le/ad. For the other strong punchers, there's more work to be done in the next two stages to make up the gap in the GC.
izagirre off course leads the Points standings as well. Dunbar leads the U25s followed by Geoghegan Hart and Fernandes. Generali and MOL are tied at the top of the Team's standing.
