Ahlstrand's 3rd place finish yesterday was enough to snatch the leader's jersey away from Coquard, who finished a couple of spots lower. Today's stage will see the Volvo rider surely lose his lead, but he gets to ride today's stage in the leader's jersey. The stage is pan-flat, so it gives an opportunity to the pure time-triallists to make a mark on the race. As we've seen in the past editions, more often than not, this has been the deciding stage of the race.
Favourites
FLA
TT
RES
Phinney
73
83
74
Würtz
77
82
78
Keizer
72
81
79
Vlatos
72
81
71
Sütterlin
71
80
77
Viviani
78
79
77
Haugard
72
79
77
Mottin
69
79
74
Kwok
76
79
73
Brändle
75
79
73
Robert
67
79
70
Van Winden
73
79
68
We pick up Haugard as the first rider of note. He is more than 7 minutes down in the GC, so he won't be in GC contention after today's stage. But he's still a stage contender. He posts a time of 17'47" at the first intermediate.
Pokala is next. He is 37 seconds down at the halfway mark.
Bernaudeau does slightly better. He's lost 29 seconds so far.
Kwok does slightly better still, losing 24 seconds.
2018 champion Hagen is 4'30" down in the GC! He rides for pride today but this isn't his strong suit. He's already 56 seconds down at the first checkpoint.
Mottin is the first to go close to the best time. He's 5 seconds off the pace.
Robert goes faster. He ties Haugard's time and shares the lead.
Buchmann is another rider who'll be disappointed with his race so far. He too doesn't consider time-trialling as his strong suit. He's 1'9" down on the best time at the first check.
Verona is 18 seconds down.
Martin is in the same boat as Buchmann, and has the same skills against the clock. He's 1'18" down at the checkpoint.
Betancourt is slightly better off in the GC, but he's worse off in time-trialling. He's already a whopping 3'50" down in the first sector.
Sutterlin hasn't done that well in the first sector, being 35 seconds slower.
Eaton is slower still, at 42 seconds.
Kung loses 21 seconds so far.
Navardauskas can't quite go close. He is 33 seconds slower.
A bit disappointing from Campenaerts, as he ties Navardauskas's time.
Kwiatkowski isn't having a great day. He's lost 1'32" already.
Mohoric is worse still, losing 2'43" in the first sector.
Viviani is 25 seconds down.
Van Winden does better, being 16 seconds down presently.
Ivo Oliveira loses 27 seconds in the first sector.
Vlatos goes fastest! His time to beat is 17'39".
Korsaeth is down 19 seconds.
Laengen is 27 seconds down so far.
Dunbar is down 33 seconds.
Stussi does better at 22 seconds.
Zoidl isn't having the best day. He's down 47 seconds.
Keizer ties the best time!
Koretzky is not known for his time-trailling skills. He has lost 2'5" already.
Izagirre is 32 seconds off the pace.
De Bie is expected to lose time today. He's down just over a minute at the first time-check.
Vangstad is 36 seconds down.
Gallopin is a little slower at 46 seconds.
Brandle has lost 28 seconds in the first sector.
Nepomnyachsniy would've probably hoped for a little better. He has lost 45 seconds.
Bobridge is down by 36 seconds.
Kangert is losing 53 seconds at the moment.
Dennis is down by 31 seconds.
Wurtz does better. He is down 14 seconds after the first sector.
Phinney is 6 seconds down in the first sector. The top favourite has some work to do if he wants to win today.
Gautier is down by 2'52" already!
Bystrom is more than 3 minutes down.
Coquard loses 2'38".
Ahlstrand is already slower by 3'20".
Here's the leaderboard after the first sector:
Vlatos
17'39"
Keizer
17'39"
Phinney
17'45"
Haugard
17'47"
Robert
17'47"
Mottin
17'52"
Wurtz
17'53"
Korsaeth
17'58"
Stussi
18'1"
Van Winden
18'3"
Verona
18'5"
Laengen
18'6"
Bobridge
18'7"
Kung
18'8"
Cosnefroy
18'10"
Dennis
18'10"
Izagirre
18'11"
Kwok
18'11"
Viviani
18'12"
Dunbar
18'12"
Haugard posts a leading time of 34'47" at the finish.
Pokala is 39 seconds over that time.
Bernaudeau is a further 10 seconds slower.
Kwok is 44 seconds off the pace.
Hagen finishes the stage having lost 1'48".
Mottin is slower in the second sector. He ends up 23 seconds slower.
Robert has the same fate. He goes from tying the best time at the intermediate checkpoint to being 14 seconds down at the finish.
Buchmann loses 2'23" today.
Verona is 39 seconds off the pace.
Martin loses 1'54".
Betancourt loses a shocking 6'11"!
Sutterlin rides a superb second sector to improve to being 18 seconds off the best time.
Eaton has lost 50 seconds today.
Kung posts a time to be 30 seconds down.
Navardauskas limits his losses in the second sector but still loses 34 seconds.
Campenaerts is just a second better off than Navardauskas.
Kwiatkowski has lost 2'26".
Mohoric loses almost double of that!
Viviani is slower than the best time by 48 seconds.
Van Winden is 34 seconds slower.
Ivo Oliveira is nearly a minute down.
Vlatos posts a new fastest time! It stands at 34'43".
Korsaeth is 41 seconds slower.
Laengen is a further 6 seconds slower.
Dunbar loses nearly a minute down a the finish.
Stussi loses 34 seconds.
Zoidl will perhaps be a little disappointed losing 1'14" today.
We have a new leader! Keizer takes the provisional lead with a time of 34'36". That's quite an improvement after a storming second sector.
Koretzky is 4 minutes and a bit slower.
Izagirre loses 58 seconds. He would've hoped for better today.
De Bie loses nearly 2 minutes.
Vangstad loses just over a minute.
Gallopin loses 1'19".
Brandle stops the clock 42 seconds slower than Keizer.
Nepomnyachsniy is 1'13" down.
Bobridge is another who'll be a little disappointed as he loses 53 seconds.
Kangert loses 1'24".
Dennis does better to be down 42 seconds.
Phinney is another who's blown everyone away on the second sector! He posts a new best time of 34'19", overturning his deficit at the time-check and pulling out an advantage as well.
Gautier and Bystrom both lose over 5 minutes.
Coquard loses 4'32".
Ahlstrand is the last rider to finish. He posts a time 5'48" down on the best and confirms the loss of his jersey.
Today's winner - Taylor Phinney.
The GC follows today's stage for the top 4 as Phinney takes the lead ahead of Keizer and Wurtz. Bobridge is the best placed pure puncher at 9th, at exactly a minute's deficit.
Ahlstrand keeps his lead in the Points standings, while Phinney moves up to 3rd behind Coquard.
No change in the KOM with Bystrom and Gautier still jointly in the lead.
Dunbar still leads the U25 classification. Oliveria and Conci are now 2nd and 3rd.
Grieg take over as leaders of the Teams standings.
