60 riders from 20 teams will take to the course today. This race has two legs so they will have to do it twice. The race favorites include many of the top TT riders in the PCT division but 7 CT teams will also be represented today.
Coverage starts with 14 riders left on the course in the first leg. Defending champion Kittel has 5k left to ride.
Currently the leader board at the end of the first leg looks like this, Oliveira on top:
It is not Kittel’s day, he is 1’10 down, a repeat victory seems unlikely.
Howson is the next rider home. He was 2nd at the 1st check but had slipped to 4th at the 2nd check. He splits the difference and sits in 3rd at the finish, 27 seconds off the pace.
Fiedler finishes in 7th. 43 seconds back.
Gonzalez Salas goes 1 second better than Fiedler. He is now 7th at 42 seconds.
Cataford is next he also loses 42 seconds.
Dillier breaks the streak by losing 1’06
Mullen, Polar’s Irish champion, is the next big name on the course. He takes 10th, on 44 seconds.
Spanish champion Fraile is next, he had the lead at the first check but slipped to 3rd at the second check. He finishes tied with his teammate for the lead. cycleYorkshire with a 1-2 right now.
Zmorka was only 11th at the second check. He finishes in 10th, also on 42 seconds, there are 6 riders between 40 and 44 seconds behind.
Cosnefroy is the last man on the course in the first leg, not a top competitor he finishes in 27th, + 1’23.
Oliveira and Fraile atop the standings with 2019 winner Viennet just 1 second behind. The rest are at least 27 seconds behind.
The standings after the first leg look like this:
Spoiler
1
Ivo Oliveira
cycleYorkshire
59'02
2
Omar Fraile
cycleYorkshire
s.t.
3
Emilien Viennet
Polar
+ 1
4
Damien Howson
Duolingo
+ 27
5
Sean Downey
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 30
6
Jerome Coppel
Project: Africa
+ 38
7
Michael Valgren Andersen
BWT Hyundai N Cycling
+ 40
8
Mario Gonzalez Salas
Assa Abloy
+ 42
9
Alexandor Cataford
Podium Ambition
s.t.
10
Marlen Zmorka
Los Pollos Hermanos
s.t.
11
Jacob Fiedler
Bralirwa - Stevens
+ 43
12
Ryan Mullen
Polar
+ 44
13
Andreas Vangstad
Aker - MOT
+ 48
14
Luke Durbridge
cycleYorkshire
+ 49
15
Kristian Vanderpool
Podium Ambition
+ 54
16
Giorgi Nareklishvili
Red Bull Zalgiris
s.t.
17
Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg
Project: Africa
+ 57
18
Lasse Norman Hansen
Aker - MOT
+ 59
19
Phan Age Haugard
Team UBS
s.t.
20
James Oram
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 1'03
21
Luca Sterbini
Los Pollos Hermanos
s.t.
22
Steven Lammertink
Aker - MOT
+ 1'04
23
Zoltan Sipos
Duolingo
+ 1'05
24
Silvan Dillier
Team UBS
+ 1'06
25
Marcel Kittel
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 1'10
26
Klemen Stimulak
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 1'14
27
Benoit Cosnefroy
Aramco DP
+ 1'23
28
Jose Goncalves
Team UBS
+ 1'28
29
Janvier Hadi
Bralirwa - Stevens
+ 1'29
30
Victor Campenaerts
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
+ 1'31
31
Ho-Ting Kwok
Polar
+ 1'36
32
Jaime Castrillo
Aramco DP
+ 1'45
33
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
Red Bull Zalgiris
+ 1'46
34
Sven Vandousselaere
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
+ 1'51
35
Metkel Kiflay
Project: Africa
s.t.
36
Mikhail Kochetkov
BWT Hyundai N Cycling
+ 1'52
37
Krzysztof Marchewka
BWT Hyundai N Cycling
+ 2'00
38
John Archibald
Eurosport x GCN
+ 2'07
39
Benjamin Thomas
Aramco DP
+ 2'09
40
Iver Johan Knotten
Los Pollos Hermanos
+ 2'10
41
Freddy Cruz
Glanbia Foods Cycling Project
+ 2'12
42
Gabor Kasa
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 2'14
43
Jake Marryatt
BNZ-Superhero Racing
+ 2'18
44
Matthias Brändle
Red Bull Zalgiris
+ 2'21
45
Mark Christian
Duolingo
+ 2'25
46
Gert Joeaar
Eddie Stobart
+ 2'29
47
Patrick Bevin
BNZ-Superhero Racing
+ 2'34
48
Akil Campbell
Podium Ambition
+ 2'45
49
Owain Doull
Eurosport x GCN
+ 3'13
50
Michael Cuming
Eurosport x GCN
+ 3'17
51
Aberlardo Ablenado
BNZ-Superhero Racing
+ 3'32
52
Samuel Mugisha
Bralirwa - Stevens
+ 4'39
53
Travis Meyer
Eddie Stobart
+ 4'47
54
Beka Nareklishvili
Crabbe-CC Chevigny
+ 4'52
55
Nickolas Zukowsky
Assa Abloy
+ 5'06
56
Sander Andersen
Tafjord Kraft
+ 6'32
57
Nikita Umerbekov
Eddie Stobart
+ 7'19
58
Martin Urianstad
Tafjord Kraft
+ 7'50
59
Alexander Konychev
Assa Abloy
+ 8'41
60
Olav Hjemsaeter
Tafjord Kraft
+ 9'12
Coverage of the 2nd leg starts with Durbridge, who was badly outperformed by his teammates in the first leg and is sitting in 14th, 54 seconds down.
He finishes 7 seconds off the best 2nd leg time which was by Goncalves.
The GC standings for riders who have finished looks like this (riders at the top could still move up):
2nd Leg Time
1st Leg Rank
Cumulative Rank
Rider
59'18
14
14
Durbridge
59'16
22
15
Lammertink
59'11
28
16
Goncalves
59’22
31
17
Kwok
1h00'00
24
18
Dillier
1h00'16
21
19
Sterbini
1h00'31
19
20
Haugard
1h00'35
20
21
Oram
1h00'38
25
22
Kittel
1h01'05
16
23
Nareklishvili
1h01'02
17
24
Janse van Rensburg
1h00'52
26
25
Stimulak
Lammertink, Kwok and Goncalves are the big movers while Vanderpool the big loser dropping from 15th to outside the top 25, not able to repeat yesterday’s overperformance.
Mullen the next notable rider home. His time is 21 seconds off the best for this leg, 6th place. We are in the group clustered at about 40 seconds behind now so small gaps matter and Mullen loses a spot to Durbridge.
Fiedler finishes next and loses 1’02, poor time for him he drops three places.
Zmorka next, so far he is first at both time checks in this leg.
He sets a new best time by 23 seconds.
Cataford finishes next and loses 1’27. He drops to 16th for now. Durbridge into the top 10. 8 riders left.
Current GC:
2nd Leg Time
1st Leg Rank
Cumulative Rank
Rider
58'48
10
9
Zmorka
59'18
14
10
Durbridge
59'32
12
11
Mullen
59'16
22
12
Lammertink
59'11
28
13
Goncalves
1h00'13
11
14
Fiedler
1h00'15
31
15
Kwok
1h00'15
9
16
Cataford
1h00'15
13
17
Vangstad
1h00'00
24
18
Dillier
1h00'16
21
19
Sterbini
1h00'31
19
20
Haugard
Gonzalez Salas finishes next. A disaster from him he loses almost 3 minutes and drops out of the top 25.
Not a lot better from Andersen (+2’11) and Coppel (+1’43). Both will drop out of the top 10 by a big margin. A lot of riders that went earlier gaining places here.
Howson the next rider with a strong time, he loses 37 seconds on Zmorka, 7th best on the 2nd leg. Not enough to hold off the Ukranian who is up into 5th overall.
Downey another disastrous 2nd leg, he started ahead of Howson, he loses 3’11.
Just the top 3 from the first leg left. Top 10 GC looks like this:
2nd Leg Time
1st Leg Rank
Cumulative Rank
Rider
58'48
10
4
Zmorka
59'25
4
5
Howson
59'18
14
6
Durbridge
59'32
12
7
Mullen
59'16
22
8
Lammertink
59'11
28
9
Goncalves
1h00'13
11
10
Fiedler
1h00'15
31
11
Kwok
1h00'15
9
12
Cataford
1h00'15
13
13
Vangstad
1h00'00
24
14
Dillier
1h00'31
6
15
Coppel
Howson the only rider in the top 10 from the first leg still in the top 10 as the gaps have been much larger in the 2nd leg. The top 3 all started the day just over 40 seconds ahead of Zmorka, he could still win this, only 7 riders have come close that close to him in the 2nd leg.
Viennet was already 1’28 down at the 2nd check. He loses 2’16. He is going to drop out of the top 10.
Fraile even worse at the 2nd check, already 1’50 down. He loses 2’36, he too drops out of the top 10. Zmorka no worse than 2nd now, Howson on the podium.
Better from Oliveira but he was 1’07 down at the 2nd check, barring a great final section he isn’t going to hold on.
No miracle for cycleYorkshire, he loses 1’34, but it is good enough to keep him in the top 10. The silver lining for the team is Durbridge does move on to the podium.
So, a decisive 2nd leg makes Zmorka the winner, as he finally shows his quality at the Celtic Chrono.
Celtic Chrono 
