So far, top favourite Bernal hasn’t shown us exactly what he is capable of. He is considered to be the best time trialist among the climbers though, how much time can he take today?
The first decent time trialist of the day is De Plus. He sets a time of 51’48”.
Brunel with a good ride, improving the Belgian’s time by seven seconds at the finish!
Erdenebat is one of the better time trialists at the starts today. He obliterates the other times and finishes in 50’23”, 1’17” faster than Brunel.
Norsgaard is one of the top favourites of the day, and immediately shows that at the first chrono, where he is twenty seconds faster than anyone else. He finishes in 49’36” and is the first rider to dive under the fifty minute mark. Van Moer also came in with a decent ride, currently third at 1’20” of the leader.
Bjerg is one of Denmark’s time trial hopes of the future. He is still very young, so a provisional fifth place at two minutes of Norsgaard isn’t too bad. 57 riders have come in by now, the gap between the best time and the worst of Zariff is 2’30”.
Former KoM-leader Carr showing the world he is not a time trial prodigy, as his teammate Mugisha overtakes him even before the second chrono. Their other teammate, Chokri, is 53” slower than the best time, which means he’s currently third.
Sajnok coming in for Lierse now. He had the second time at the first chrono, but eventually dropped back to fourth place, four seconds slower than Bralirwa’s Chokri and 57” slower than Norsgaard.
Strong effort by Bissegger here! Second at both chronos, and only just dropping to third at the finish, losing by only five seconds to Erdenebat!
Christodoulos came close to winning in the prologue, and he’s trying to do the same thing today! The Cypriot with the best time at chrono one and chrono two, but he lost fourteen seconds to Norsgaard in the final part, which means he’s currently second at nine seconds of the Tryg rider!
Gamper feeling good and dragging himself to a provisional podium, third place for the Austrian at 22” of the best time. In the background of the picture we see Guglielmi, no longer an unknown name after yesterday’s stage. O'Loughlin has also put in a good time in the meantime, currently fourth at 38 seconds of Norsgaard.
Here comes Beniusis, one of the stage favourites! He is third at the first chrono, but leads at the second chrono… It’s a very tight battle, but he overtakes the lead at the finish! With a time of 49’34” the Zalgiris rider is two seconds faster than Norsgaard! His teammate Akhmaevi then comes in seventh, at 51 seconds of him.
Twenty best times so far, 133 riders have finished. We are coming close to the GC battle unfolding.
First rider of the top-20 is Stork. With the ninth best time so far, at 55” of Beniusis, he definitely won’t be losing any place in the GC.
Rikunov is the next rider and comes in with a time of 50’38” he does okay. He will probably remain 19th, as the others above him have too much time on him.
Fung is obviously still feeling his legs after his attack yesterday. His time is 50’20”, and he won’t lose any spots in the GC.
The rider ahead of him in the GC in seventeenth is Mano, who should be one of the favourites for the stage win. The McCormick rider still feeling good after yesterday’s brutal stage, as he takes the lead with a time of 49’24”! He obviously won’t lose any places in the GC neither!
Then we have Inkelaar, who is far from a world class time trialist. The flying Dutchman not flying today, as he loses almost four minutes. Both McCormick riders overtake him in the GC, he should dropping to 17th or 18th.
A bit after the second chrono we see number 14 Foss fly by number 15 Zimmermann. The Carlsberg rider does well and finishes on a sixth provisional place, probably gaining some spots in the GC as well. The Ritter Sport Development rider on the other hand does terrible, losing around 4’15”, dropping below Inkelaar to 18th in the GC.
Even though his team is currently in yellow, there is still some pressure on Habtemichael, who was considered to be one of the GC favourites. He loses 1’12” to Mano, which is just good enough to hold off Foss.
Make some noise for KoM-leader Kiriakidis, who finished third after an incredible stage yesterday. He is currently 12th in the GC and not a bad time trialist at all. It’s like he is still as fresh as a bird, as he is currently fifth at half a minute of the best time! The Greek with a nice opportunity of entering the top-10 now!
The next rider attacking the top-10, and probably still hoping to win this Tour, is Sivakov. He doesn’t have the best time though, losing 15” to Kiriakidis, who jumps over him in the GC!
Here is the first top-10 rider already. Carlsberg’s Sosa is not the best time trialist though, but he does decent! He “’only” loses 1’16” to Mano, and sees the previous two riders overtake him in the GC. Still some bad time trialists to come though.
Pogacar had a tough time on the final climb yesterday, but is still ninth at 1’29” of the race lead, so anything is still possible. His time is exactly the same as Kiriakidis, currently fifth at 30” of the best time! This could actually mean the Slovenian has a decent chance of even entering the top-5 today.
Number eight Giannoutsos on the road as well now. He loses a minute over the best time, which is just enough to hold off Sivakov. Teammate Kiriakidis and Pogacar jump over him in the GC though.
Former yellow jersey Eenkhoorn is not the best time trialist, and it shows. A prologue is clearly not the same as a 38 km tt, as the Philips rider loses more than two minutes. Barely enough to remain in the top-15 of the GC.
Team Swiss’ GC hope Mäder now also doing his thing, trying to enter the top-5. And wow, does he deliver! He keeps up nicely with the McCormick rider throughout the race, to then take the lead at the finish! 49’16” is the time of the Swiss rider, should even be enough for the top-3 in the GC after this stage!
And the top-5 is on the road as well! Stage and GC favourite Bernal has fifty-five seconds to make up for, and he continues his performances of the previous days! Not superbly bad, but far from good enough! He loses more than half a minute over Mäder, as the Swiss rider overtakes him in the GC!
Van Niekerk is not the strongest time trialist we have seen today. The South African loses 2’30” and buries his yellow dream, as he very probably drops outside of the top-10 today.
Conci is the best time trialist in the top-3, and might even aim for the stage win today. What a thrilling battle it is becoming! One second slower than Mäder at the first chrono, three seconds faster at the second chrono and … same time at the finish! Can you believe it?! The race organisation is using all their tech to decide who has the fastest time in the end and it is… Mäder! A very nice consolation prize for The Zalgiris rider though, as he is looking to start the final stage in yellow, with a nice bonus over the other GC riders!
Two times stage winner and former yellow jersey Storer proudly wearing the points jersey, but it doesn’t help him a lot in keeping second place. He loses one minute and a half, dropping to fourth in the GC. Yellow jersey Higuita still to come of course.
Here he is, yellow jersey Higuita! Not a time trialist neither, as he loses 2’20”! He drops to sixth in the GC.
Looks like the time trial was even more decisive for the GC than yesterday’s mountain stage, with Conci in the pole position to win this years’ Tour de l’Avenir, while Mäder follows at 43” and Bernal at 1’03”! See you tomorrow for the grand finale!
