Welcome to the start of the 2020 Tour de l’Avenir! This edition starts in Belgium with a six km prologue in Liege. Which one of the favourites will already build a small gap over his competitors, and who will win the stage? We’ll have the answers to those questions quickly!
Van Poucke is the first rider to start, but the Belgian can’t really enjoy the moment that much. Rutsch is right behind him and almost shoves him off the start podium. The Belgian completes the prologue in 7’42”, the German is a second faster!
That time gets improved by another second immediately after. Ruiz is the new leader.
Seems like every rider passing the finish line is increasing the best time. Wildauer shows off the BWT Hyundai jersey and is the new leader with a time of 7’34”.
And here’s our new leader already. Lierse’s Weemaes improves the best time by four seconds: 7’30”.
On a good day, Stork should be able of finishing inside the top-10. The Ritter Sport Development rider disappoints and is only fourth so far, with Weemaes, Rodenberg and Wildauer ahead of him.
The second rider of each team is now starting, and Gjensidige is back in the lead! Van Moer improves the best time by six seconds: 7’24”!
Van Moer still in the lead a bit later, and that’s quite a surprise! Munton comes two seconds short and Rikunov also fails to beat his time, but the real surprise here is time trialist Norsgaard having an off-day and finishing eight seconds slower than the Gjensidige rider!
We have a new leader! Stavrakakis finishes in the same time as Van Moer, but the race organisation puts the Festina rider in the hotseat. Magennis and Storer tried to get a hold of the podium in meanwhile, but failed.
And here is the third rider finishing in 7’24”! According to the race organisation, Mäder is a couple of milliseconds faster than Stavrakakis, which puts him in the hotseat. Misbah also had a surprisingly good time for the Swiss team, currently fourth at two seconds of his teammate.
All eyes on Pogacar, one of the outsiders of this Tour… and he has the new best time! Great ride by the Slovenian, who finishes with a time of 7’23”, one second faster than the other three right behind him! A sign of what is yet to come?
Another interesting rider now, as sprinter Larsen was one of the favourites for this stage. The Dane does not disappoint, as he beats the time of Pogacar by four seconds! 7’19” for the Carlsberg rider, who is the new leader!
In the future, McNulty will be one of the favourites to win this Tour. This year should come too early, although the American doesn’t seem to agree. Great prologue, as he finishes in the same time as Pogacar, currently on the podium at four seconds of the best time. Kiriakidis has also passed the finish line, but disappointed and couldn’t even finish inside the top-20.
Sajnok was one of the favourites, but finishes ten seconds slower than Larsen, not good enough for a top-10.
A decent effort sees De Plus currently ninth at seven seconds of the best time. 86 riders have come in, 77 are yet to come.
Conci is another interesting name for both the stage and the GC, and he does well! Not well enough to take the win, as he is two seconds slower than Larsen, but second so far is not bad from the Italian.
111 riders have come in, 52 are still on the road or waiting to start. This is the top-20 so far.
Some strong time trialists now following each other. Erdenebat is the first of them, and he beats the best time! He actually finishes in the same time as Larsen, but according to the jury he was just a fraction of a second quicker.
Beniusis finishes fifth, being four seconds slower, but then Christodoulos comes in, blowing away the previous best time! With a time of 7’12” he is more than five seconds faster than anyone else today, stunning display by the Swisslion rider!
Habtemichael does okay with an eleventh place at twelve seconds, Foss comes in an additional four seconds slower right after him.
Will Eenkhoorn be a domestique, or does he get a free role in this Tour de l’Avenir? We don’t know yet, but what we do know, is that he surprises everyone by having the best time so far! 7’11” at the finish line means he is one second faster than Christodoulos! 26 riders to go!
One day Chokri might win a lot of time trials, but not today. The Moroccan disappoints, finishing outside of the top-75.
Another good time trialist on the road now, as Mano hopes to win the stage for McCormick. He finishes fifth, at eight seconds of the best time!
Only six more riders to go as climber Inkelaar hits the road. An 118th time at 36” of his teammate is the best he can do.
Higuita the next rider aiming for a good time to start his Tour de l’Avenir. The Colombian from Xero does what could have been expected from him: 88th at 29”.
Sosa on the other hand does worse than both the Colombian and Inkelaar! 124th place so far, losing 38 seconds already!
Sivakov takes a hold of the 43rd place so far, losing exactly twenty seconds. That could also have been a bit better.
Big GC favourite Bernal coming in now, and … a thirteenth place, twelve seconds behind Eenkhoorn! Not too bad, but he might have hoped for more.
Van Niekerk is the last rider of the day, he comes in 67th, 24” behind the surprising winner Eenkhoorn! See you tomorrow for the first stage in line!
