The sixth stage of the Tour of Qatar is a 3.9k individual time trial. Not only have the organizers switched it back to an epilogue but they have also shortened from 6.1k last year. It is more similar in length to the 2020 version which was just 4.3k. On that day the top 50 all finished within 10 seconds of each other, so don’t look for big time gaps today.
Manninen in first and Ewan in second both have 16 second cushions and they are both solid in the short IT’s, so they should be able to hold their positions. Gaviria is only 1 second behind Coquard so the last podium spot is in play but Coquard is much stronger against the clock.
Going further down the GC some other spots are also in play, Groenewegen has just 2 seconds over Samolenkov for 5th while 7th through 10th are all within 3 seconds of each other ( Cullaigh, Hsu, Van der Lijke, Van der Sande)
Andersen who won the TT stage last year is the favorite once again despite the shorter distance. None of the GC guys make the favorites. Although Kemboi is top in terms of placings among those who didn’t score bonuses (20th on GC), so he will hope to move up.
The first 82 riders lost time yesterday and only have hopes for stage glory. The next 61 are on 1’20, how well their teams do on depth scoring will depend on their time today. The U25 competition will be decided among these riders. The final 19 riders scored bonus seconds on prior stages and will be hoping to keep their places in the top 20.
One of the favorites for the stage is Zmorka, who is the fourth rider to start.
Unsurprisingly he sets the best time, 4’20, 10 seconds ahead of Peng. Peng is solid but not spectacular in this kind of stage so that 10 difference reinforces that there won’t be big gaps today.
Yatsevich is another favorite who lost time yesterday.
He goes 2 seconds faster than the Ukranian, Zmorka with an unspectacular start to the season.
Howson is the next big gun to finish he loses 8 seconds, poor time for him.
Hepburn splits the times of Yatsevich and Zmorka, 1 second behind the leader in 2nd.
A few riders later Tanfield matches his teammates time. And a few riders after that a big surprise as another EA rider, Lampawog, matches the time of Yatsevich.
Larsen is Grieg’s big hope.
He loses 5 seconds but the next man, Israeli champion, Goldstein, is one second off the lead currently 3rd although the placings could change once the organizers finalize the timings. Tinkoff would have a strong position in the team competition but threw that away yesterday.
Hayter is the first of cycleYorkshire’s contenders and a great ride sees him take over 1st, 2 seconds ahead.
Right behind him Viviani slots into 3rd, 3 seconds down.
Aydar Zakarin is a candidate to retake the lead for Tinkoff.
He doesn’t. 4 seconds off the pace.
Leung is one of the last riders who lost time yesterday to start. He takes over second, 1 second behind.
2020 Qatar TT winner, Sütterlin, is the last of them. He just beats Leung for 2nd on the provisional leader board, which looks like this:
Now we are into riders who could really move up in GC with a good ride. Van Baarle is the first notable competitor but not a great time for him as he loses 10 seconds, good enough for 26th, he will move up but not by as much as he would have hoped.
Ganna is the next top rider on the course.
He sets the new provisional best time, same time as Hayter, that should catapult him into the top 20 on GC.
Greek Champion Vlatos finishes not long after Ganna. He is 2 seconds off the pace set by the Puma rider, a good GC finish for him as well.
A great ride by young Rune Herregodts moves him into the top 5, 2 seconds off the best time. He is U25 eligible so that could be important. Hansen also puts in a good time, 3 seconds off the pace, provisional 10th.
Haugard comes in at 6 seconds off the pace, only good enough for 22nd.
But soon after we get a new best time, defending champion Andersen takes the lead by the relatively huge margin of 3 seconds. Unfortunately, he was so fast the cameraman missed him.
Norwegian Champion Korsaeth can’t come close to that – he is 10 seconds off the pace, provisional 19th.
The next good time comes from a complete outsider. Baska takes 2nd, 1 second behind the leader.
Stork loses just 6 seconds but that leaves him 1 second behind Herregodts in the U25 competition.
Viennet loses 10 seconds, only good enough for 24th.
Canadian champion Cataford won’t be thrilled with his IT debut for his new team, +11 seconds, 34th.
Kiriakidis does better losing 7 seconds, 13th at this time. But it wasn’t quite good enough as he is 2 seconds behind Herregodts in the young rider competition. Only the 3 Isostar riders left to challenge for that ( Peak, Andersen, and Sweeny)
Sweeny is the next rider home and doesn’t come close. And shortly afterward Andersen also fails to challenge Stork’s time.
Peak has earned white with some great work for Gaviria but he is facing losing it right at the end unless he can put in another great ride.
He can’t do it; he loses 24 seconds. Herregodts will win the White Jersey.
Kemboi is the last rider on the course with no bonus seconds. He will want a strong ride to make up for a frustrating time in the sprints.
And he is 2 seconds off the leader, that should push him up the GC.
The leaderboard looks like this:
Mundle is the first of the riders with time bonuses but he is a very poor TT rider and could plummet.
He loses 47 seconds, 162nd on the day and will drop from 19th to in the GC. The next two Roosen and Van den Berg also drop significant time. Poor race for Huski as Grosu didn’t contest the sprints.
Next rider is Anderberg, he had a 5 second cushion and is solid in the TTs so might be able to hold his GC position.
He loses 10 seconds so that will drop him behind about 5 riders or so but he can gain that back from those in front of him.
Appollonio loses 40 seconds, Lo Cicero 15 seconds and Bouglas 44 seconds. None of them will hold of Anderberg or any of the riders with top TT times which means Andersen is up to no worse than 13th in the GC.
But 12th placed Farantakis is a much stronger TT rider.
He finishes in 10th, just 6 seconds off the pace. He had an 18 second cushion on Andersen so he is our new virtual GC leader.
And holds on to that as 11th placed Silvestre loses 22 seconds.
The 10th, 9th, 8th and 7th placed riders at the beginning of the day and their Stage 6 times are: Van der Sande: +55 seconds Van der Lijke: +24 seconds Hsu: +23 seconds Cullaigh: +19 seconds
Only Van der Sande will drop behind Andersen but only Cullaigh holds off Farantakis. Farantakis up to 8th, Andersen 11th.
Samolenkov had a 7 second cushion on Cullaigh and 20 seconds on Farantakis to start the day. He can hold onto his position with a solid ride.
He finishes 21 seconds off the stage leader which is good enough to keep his 6th place on GC. Groenewegen matches him and will remain in 5th on GC.
Gaviria home 10 seconds off the lead (provisional 29th on the stage), no change in his position barring a disaster for Coquard. A stage win for him earlier in the race but he might have been hoping for better than 4th on GC given the work his team did.
Coquard is the last rider with a legitimate shot at the stage win. He will also want a strong time to put pressure on Ewan ahead of him.
And not only doesn’t he put pressure on Ewan but it is the disaster Gaviria needed. Coquard loses his GC 3rd to Gaviria. He goes 16 seconds off the best time, only 67th on the stage.
Ewan shows off the borrowed Green jersey, he should be safe with a 16 second cushion and a poor time by Coquard.
He matches Coquard’s time, two stage wins and 2nd on the GC is a nice return for ISA-Hexacta.
Manninen enjoys a day in yellow and posts the 25th best time on the day, 9 seconds behind. He will add the points jersey to the GC and his 2 stages.
Andersen celebrates his stage win which also helps Aker-MOT to the teams jersey by 2 seconds over ELCO.
Tour of Qatar 
