The final stage of the Tour of Tasmania is traditionally a short, nineteen kilometer, time trial. Sheffield hosted the time trials in previous years but we are moving south this year, as we start on the east bank of the River Derwent in Howrah. The riders cross the Tasman Bridge to finish on the west bank, in the capital and most populous city of Tasmania, Hobart. #TeamLaunceston all the way, but I'm not the one drawing the routes.
Durbridge is second-a-last in the standings, thus being the second starter, and overtakes teammate Munoz early in the stage. The Australian will be a representative benchmark, twenty-three minutes and thirteen seconds.
Dillier finished in last place yesterday, so also has an early start time. His morale isn't high, losing fifteen seconds over nineteen kilometer.
Golovash takes provisional third, four seconds behind Dillier and nineteen behind Durbridge.
Campenaerts to virtual fifth behind Ivars, not a good day for the Belgian.
Vlatos reaches the finish in Hobart. He was three seconds down on Durbridge at the checkpoint, which grows to nine here, suggesting he started a bit too fast.
Yatsevich starts out a bit too slows. Six seconds down at the checkpoint and then nine at the finish, but just behind the Greek on milliseconds I suppose.
Bernaudeau to sixth, + 22.
Haugard is the third rider to finish at 23'24, but joins at the back of the queue in fourth place.
Sütterlin's first sector was lackluster, only placing sixth (+ 7). He saved the best for last and goes to second place, two seconds faster than the second part of Durbridge.
Jungels overtakes Neilands heading into Hobart. He ends up being the fourth rider in 23'24, spanning places third to sixth. As he is the last to set this time, he is number six on the leaderboard.
Kung is twelve seconds slower when he rides onto the bridge. He likes this side more as he only loses one further second to the still leading Durbridge, placing provisionally seventh.
A boat in the River Derwent doesn't distract Laengen, neither does the light shower which just hit us. + 17, P9.
Kwok disappoints, not posting a time in the current top ten. He can cite the weather as excuse.
Malori came close to 23'24 as well but has to settle for 23'25. Seventh place for the Italian.
Lammertink posts the ninth time. We're now slowly reaching the riders who can still get a respectable GC position, but the Dutchman is too far away to be relevant.
The first of those is Coppel, who won't add a third win to his trophy cabinet. There is some sort of attraction to 23'24, being the fifth to do so and hence placing seventh. He does take the GC lead of those who have already finished.
He takes the positions of riders like Vangstad and Goos. Vasyliv is the first rider to stay ahead of him, so the Frenchman gains at least thirteen places and could still make the top thirty.
Goncalves goes to fourteenth place, + 21, and assumes the virtual GC lead. Thirty riders to go, with the rain slowly moving away.
Würtz looks focused at the start. He already beats Durbridge at the halfway point by six seconds, extending it to eighteen at the finish. He is the first rider to dive under the twenty-three minutes, stopping the clock at 22'55.
Sepulveda right behind, finishing at 47 seconds but losing a GC position to him as well as Goncalves.
Keizer set the same time as Durbridge after ten kilometer, but beats him by six seconds to take virtual second on the stage. He was in the same time as Würtz in the GC, so the Dutchman drops a place at twelve seconds.
Nelson Oliveira fourteenth, + 34, dropping behind Würtz and Keizer. Given some of the riders above him, he'll gain those places back.
Wirtgen needs a monster ride to win the youth classification again. With only a twenty-first place he drops down in the GC and has to hope Goldstein and Christensen are even worse.
Polnicky's advantage from stage one was gone yesterday, and even drops out of the virtual GC top ten. Sagan, the winner from yesterday, also drops down but less so than his teammate.
A convenient overview of the top ten on the stage and GC as it stands:
#
Stage
Time
#
GC
Time
1
Würtz
22'57
1
Würtz
9h52'38
2
Keizer
+ 12
2
Keizer
+ 12
3
Durbridge
+ 18
3
Oliveira
+ 34
4
Sütterlin
+ 23
4
Goncalves
+ 39
5
Vlatos
+ 27
5
Wirtgen
+ 42
6
Yatsevich
s.t.
6
Sepulveda
+ 48
7
Haugard
s.t.
7
Vasyliv
+ 1'17
8
Jungels
s.t.
8
Sagan
+ 1'19
9
Coppel
s.t.
9
Coppel
+ 1'41
10
Malori
+ 28
10
Kozhatayev
+ 1'43
Brändle overtakes Vakoc inside the final kilometer. The Austrian was underway well, posting seventh on the intermediate, but improves to take fourth on the line at + 22. His lead over Würtz in the GC was sufficient to take the virtual yellow jersey.
The Czech is not much of a time trialists and consequently loses six places.
Kangert will not revive his glory days of 2018, getting to the podium. He is only 40th so far and drops behind Brändle, Würtz and Keizer.
Dennis is on the edge of the top ten at the halfway mark. The returning theme is back, a time of 23'24 for the Australian, which is eleventh for now. Four seconds more and he would have dropped behind Brändle in the GC.
Kwiatkowski knows he cannot maintain his GC position, dropping nine so far.
Riesebeek is now in green instead of yellow jersey. He knew that if he didn't lose the latter yesterday he'd lose it today. He remains ahead of Kwiatkowski by a single second but drops behind everyone else as well, bringing him most likely twenty-third in the GC.
Kinoshita also not a chrono lover, ten seconds worse than Riesebeek. His lead was fourteen so stays ahead of him, as well as Sepulveda.
Another update, twelve to go:
#
Stage
Time
#
GC
Time
1
Würtz
22'57
1
Dennis
9h52'21
2
Keizer
+ 12
2
Brändle
+ 4
3
Durbridge
+ 18
3
Würtz
+ 17
4
Brändle
+ 22
4
Keizer
+ 29
5
Sütterlin
+ 23
5
Kangert
+ 40
6
Vlatos
+ 27
6
Oliveira
+ 51
7
Yatsevich
s.t.
7
Goncalves
+ 56
8
Haugard
s.t.
8
Wirtgen
+ 59
9
Jungels
s.t.
9
Kinoshita
+ 1'04
10
Coppel
s.t.
10
Sepulveda
+ 1'05
Two riders from the first stage breakaway finishing almost simultaneously, Brockhoff almost passed by Goldstein. The German finishes at + 2'13 and loses GC positions to Dennis, Brändle, Würtz, Keizer and Kangert. Still, if you'd said he'd be at least seventeenth he'd have called you crazy. Shame Polar is a wildcard and as such doesn't deliver them ranking points.
Goldstein and eBuddy are the lucky ones, the Israeli being the best time trialist from the stage one winners. 59th might even be a bit disappointing for the Israeli (+ 1'04), but he has the virtual GC lead with ten riders to finish.
Another duo finish making the job of the timekeepers more difficult. Ponzi dips at least five places in the GC, but Bobridge is the more important time here. Compared to Goldstein he is three seconds faster, and as such can dream of another podium in this race.
Eight to go:
#
Stage
Time
#
GC
Time
1
Würtz
22'57
1
Bobridge
9h51'46
2
Keizer
+ 12
2
Goldstein
+ 9
3
Durbridge
+ 18
3
Dennis
+ 35
4
Brändle
+ 22
4
Brändle
+ 39
5
Sütterlin
+ 23
5
Würtz
+ 52
6
Vlatos
+ 27
6
Keizer
+ 1'04
7
Yatsevich
s.t.
7
Ponzi
+ 1'14
8
Haugard
s.t.
8
Kangert
+ 1'15
9
Jungels
s.t.
9
Brockhoff
+ 1'22
10
Coppel
s.t.
10
Oliveira
+ 1'26
Expecting Koretzky but instead we have Pluchkin. Guess the time... 23'24, the seventh rider to do so! As he is the last to set it, thirteenth place is awarded to him. Obviously he is now in the hot seat for the GC.
Here's Koretzky then, who finished 163rd. The Frenchman drops all the way back from eighth to seventeenth in the GC.
Van Garderen's zero second lead over Pluchkin is unmaintainable, as are his sixteen second lead over Bobridge and twenty-two second lead over Goldstein. He had more than a minute to Dennis which is about what he lost, so he only ends up losing three positions and will get a top ten out of this race.
One kilometer for Lutsenko. The King Power rider finishes 142nd, enough to see him fall outside the GC top ten at the end of the race.
A final update, the next scoreboard will be the final results:
#
Stage
Time
#
GC
Time
1
Würtz
22'57
1
Pluchkin
9h50'56
2
Keizer
+ 12
2
Bobridge
+ 50
3
Durbridge
+ 18
3
Goldstein
+ 59
4
Brändle
+ 22
4
Van Garderen
+ 1'19
5
Sütterlin
+ 23
5
Dennis
+ 1'25
6
Vlatos
+ 27
6
Brändle
+ 1'29
7
Yatsevich
s.t.
7
Würtz
+ 1'42
8
Haugard
s.t.
8
Lutsenko
+ 1'48
9
Jungels
s.t.
9
Keizer
+ 1'54
10
Coppel
s.t.
10
Ponzi
+ 2'04
Hagen always ends up high in this race. His time trial is enough to keep everyone but Pluchkin behind, assuring him of a top five.
Phinney has already dispatched of Christensen and now passes Holmes with three kilometer to go. The American was two seconds behind Würtz at the timing point, he might even take the stage win if he uses the slipstream to his advantage!
Five, four, three, two... one! Taylor Phinney denies Würtz the stage win by the slimmest of margins, in style! The yellow jersey wins the final stage and that means he has automatically won the GC!
But what will the final positions of Holmes and Christensen be?
Holmes crosses the line in 25'48, 170th so far and twenty-second from bottom. He is pushed all the way down to ninth, but is assured of a top ten. Christensen can at most lose six seconds to beat him.
Christensen beats Holmes by nine seconds and six places. He ends up with the exact same time as Van Garderen but the tiebreaker stacks up against him again. Still, seventh place in the Tour of Tasmania, as 24-year old. Let's hope for his sake it's not all downhill from here.
First, the stage results. Taylor Phinney beats Mads Würtz by a single second. Martijn Keizer completes the podium at thirteen seconds. Early starter Durbridge finishes fourth at nineteen seconds, Brändle fifth at twenty-three seconds and Sütterlin sixth at twenty-four seconds. Places seven to thirteen all have the same time, ordered chronologically for the stage result: Vlatos, Yatsevich, Haugard, Jungels, Coppel, Dennis and Pluchkin.
Taylor Phinney winning the general classification was a foregone conclusion, entering the final day in the lead already. Wildcard Aleksandr Pluchkin takes the runner-up spot at + 1'24, improving on his third place from last year. Edvald Boasson Hagen doesn't win his third, but ends in third place at + 2'09. Bobridge still hasn't won his home race, coming in fourth this time. In fifth we have the biggest surprise: Goldstein, who takes full advantage of the stage one carnage. Van Garderen in sixth in the same time as another surprise, Christensen. Dennis eighth, Brändle ninth and Holmes completing the top ten in the race of his life. Stage runner-up Würtz gains fifteen places, from twenty-sixth to eleventh, ahead of Lutsenko, Keizer, Ponzi and Kangert, while Brockhoff is over the moon with sixteenth. The top twenty is completed by Koretzky, Oliveira, Goncalves and Wirtgen. Riesebeek ends up twenty-third.
Onto the minor classifications. Taylor Phinney must go to the podium again to collect the green jersey, edging out stage one winner Oscar Riesebeek by four points with third going to the other remaining stage winner, Peter Sagan. The mountains classification was decided yesterday and as everyone found their way across the river, Sasu Helme takes the polka dot souvenir, joined on the podium by Jay McCarthy and Pierre Latour. Omer Goldstein takes the white jersey, twenty seconds better than Ryan Christensen and 1'05 better than Tom Wirtgen. cycleYorkshire wins the teams classification over EA Vesuvio by only ten seconds, with Team UBS at 1'02.
That conclude the coverage from Tasmania! Hope you enjoyed the scenery and the racing, and we'll see you again next year.
