Welkom, allemaal! The Benelux Challenge takes off in The Netherlands, where the riders will compete for the win in a 6.2 km long flat prologue. No Schomber here, which, not gonna lie, made me quite sad. Some CT tt’ists here to try and do something special for their teams, with Dumoulin and Li as two of the biggest favourites.
Being the first rider is always something special. Zielinski has the honor, he completes the prologue in 8’14”.
It’s a special race for Luxembourgian TT champion Thill. He currently holds the best time of 7’34”.
The Minions have a Dutch manager who’s keen on scoring in this stage race. Four of their eight riders here are decent against the clock, and that includes Argentinian TT champion Rosas. He is five seconds faster than Thill and currently holds the best time of 7’29”.
He knows how to go uphill and is strong on the cobbles, Tsatevich is probably thinking about a good GC. With a time of 8’07” he is currently sixteenth out of 26 riders.
Nechita comes in next, but his time is slightly disappointing. He is third, eight seconds slower than Rosas, and three seconds slower than Thill.
A great bike, a great shirt, a not so great time. Danish champion Quaade is three seconds slower than Nechita and eleven seconds slower than the best time, which puts him in fourth so far.
Another national time trial champion with Li now going for Chinese glory, and … he is not able to beat the best time! 7’32” puts him in a provisional second place, three seconds slower than Rosas!
Mygind is another interesting Danish rider, and he seems to be feeling good, as he steps onto the current podium! 7’34” is a decent time for the Strava rider, 5” slower than the best time so far, and 2” slower than Li.
Make some room for one of the stage favourites please, as Janse van Rensburg is coming through! Seems like his teammate Rosas did quite well, as the South African is three seconds slower and has to be happy with a provisional second place! Li now into third.
Novardianto is a rider that could surprise us on a good day, and it looks like he has a decent day indeed! Fourth place for him so far, as he’s four seconds slower than the best time! Mareczko is also such a rider, but it’s not his day today. Only an eighteenth place so far, 22” slower than Rosas.
Top 20 so far, with five decent prologue riders left.
Here is one of those five, in his home country, Tom Dumoulin! He comes close, but not close enough! One second slower than Rosas, which means he’s now sandwiched between two Minions on the podium.
Debesay’s allround skillset could see him being an interesting name for the GC. He does alright with a twelfth place so far, losing eleven seconds to Rosas.
Another threat less for the Argentinian, as Kireva comes in eighth, at five seconds from the best time. The biggest threat outside of his own team should come from Ghyselinck.
This guy is definitely one of the GC contenders. His prologue isn’t that good though, Benoot now 45th out of 93, 38 seconds slower than the best time. He has the same time as Tsatevich.
Another Minion probably scoring points! Barton is only four seconds slower than his teammate, which is good for a sixth place with only two real prologue riders left to come!
Here comes Ghyselinck, his time is 7’33”! It only just puts him ahead of Barton in sixth, so the Minions will have two riders on the podium! Now we just have to wait for their final rider to find out what two riders exactly that will be!
Juul-Jensen is a good puncheur and not too weak on the cobbles, he could have a decent GC here. He is 43rd at 29 seconds so far, limiting his losses to for example Debesay to sixteen seconds.
Kalaba is the last threat to his teammate Rosas and … he finishes in the same time! The jury looks at their screens for a while, and Rosas is decided to stay in the first position!
Decent prologue by Van Asbroeck, nineteenth at sixteen seconds of the best time, he might be aiming for yellow tomorrow.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Summerhill will play a role in the GC. The American finishes outside of the top 100 today and loses more than a minute already!
One of the GC favourites, Kump, is the penultimate rider to come in. He does quite allright with a 31st time at 21 seconds of today’s winner, Rosas!
Anyone else feeling like eating pizza tonight? Gaviria concludes this prologue and probably won’t conquer yellow tomorrow, finishing 35th at 23 seconds of the best time.
