The race organisation thinks Tinkoff, Vesuvio and Puma are today’s favourites.
Amaysim Cervélo is the first team to start in the streets of Copenhagen. They have some decent time trialists, but not the biggest names. Their time at the finish is 1h03’20”.
Aegon – Peroni is the next team on the road. Hepburn, Schädlich and Sergent do most of the work for them, and in the end they are ten seconds faster than Amaysim.
And here come the favourites! Team Tinkoff – La Datcha already 10” ahead of the other teams at the first intermediate. 1h02’35” is their time at the finish, as they are the first team to dive under 1h03.
And more favourites! EA Vesuvio beating the Russians by two seconds at the first intermediate, as they can see them riding ahead of them on the only uphill section of the day, the notorious bridge. Slowly but surely the Luxembourgians build out their lead, and with a time 1h02’06” they are nine seconds faster than the Russians, which mean Vesuvio is now in the lead at the finish line.
Zwift Pro Cycling has brought Eastman with them, showing they’re serious about a good result as well. They don’t do too amazing though, as with a time slightly above 1h04’ they are now the fifth team out of five that have passed the finish line.
Last year’s winners Grieg – Maersk are definitely not without a chance neither. It’s (half) a home race for them, and that’s probably why they don’t have to pay any toll as they enter Sweden. Their time at the second intermediate is around 20” slower than Vesuvio was here, and this becomes thirty seconds at the finish. Bronze for Grieg so far, but still many teams to come.
Moser – Sygic is not relying on the best time trialists in the world, but they certainly do a decent job. 41 seconds slower than the best time set by EA Vesuvio means they’re now in the middle of the pack, fourth out of seven.
Some incredible state of the art underground camera’s showing us an interesting shot of the Farfetch Pro Cycling riders. That’s the most spectacular thing we’ll be seeing of them today though, as they are clearly on their way to one of the worst times, already losing around 1’20” at the first intermediate. Their time at the finish is 3’35” slower than the best time, the Brits are the new red lantern.
It’s almost an entire Greek army doing the work for Festina - OAKA. Vlatos behind Giannoutsos is funny to observe, don’t think he’s really out of the wind there. Although they haven’t started too bad time wise with 28” slower than the first time at the first intermediate, they are only seventh out of nine teams there so far. They cannot improve anymore on their way to the finish line, where they are also seventh out of nine teams with a time of 1h03’08”.
Mapei clearly hasn’t come here to win. That’s also not what they do, as they are only able to finish ahead of Farfetch at the finish. Ninth out of ten going 2’42” slower than the best time is their result of the day.
King Power also doesn’t have a lot of ambition as they send a team of weaker time trialists. They are faster than Mapei and Farfetch though, but that’s it so far.
Eleven out of twenty-one teams have come in, this is how the table looks like so far.
Speaking about weaker time trialists, here comes Xero Racing. Only six riders are present, some of them absolutely worthless in this discipline. They lose 3’30” at the first time check, as King Power has already caught them. Not a big surprise to see them at the last place at the finish line, losing more than nine minutes.
Gazelle is already on Swedish territory, where it is raining. A top-10 seems impossible for the Dutchmen though, as they are currently fourteenth at the first intermediate. They finish with a time of 1h03’57”, which is the 8th out of thirteen times so far.
The Minions don’t bring a weak time trialist, but it seems that they miss a real leader to perform. 1h03’21” at the finish means they are one second slower than Amaysim and 55” too slow for the best time set by Vesuvio. 7th out of fourteen so far, not too shabby for a PCT team.
Isostar – Specialized lighting up the streets with their lime outfit, but getting a good result is too much to ask from these riders. They are more than three minutes slower than the best time so far, a thirteenth place out of fifteen teams is their share.
South Africa represents! Project: Africa having a race inside the race trying to beat their PCT frenemies Minions, and they succeed, being four seconds faster! Sixth place for Aidan and his riders, decent performance!
Not too good, not too bad. ISA – Hexacta finishing with a time of 1h03’52”, which is good enough for a tenth place so far.
Four teams left.
No podium for Team Puma – SAP! They are three seconds slower than Grieg – Maersk and 32” too slow for the best time, which translates into a fourth place at the finish line!
MOL close to the finish line as they pass a super fan, who has been waiting to cheer for the riders in his tent for several days now. This is not the Tour de France, so not really sure if that was necessary. MOL does not impress with an eighteenth place at the finish line though, losing almost 3’30”.
Generali is a strong time trial team, but they do not show that today! A disappointing tenth place is their share, as they are 56” slower than Vesuvio’s best time!
And here we have the last team of the day finishing, Huski Chocolate. They were never a threat to EA Vesuvio, as they finish seventeenth. Congratulations to EA Vesuvio!
