In Grieg - Maersk, we have a Top 5 contender on the road early. They’re already 53 seconds ahead of Zwift Pro Cycling at the first checkpoint, and 16 and 22 seconds ahead of MOL Cycling Team and De Stijl Cycling, respectively.



An even bigger favorite comes through a few minutes later and takes the lead. But EA Vesuvio is “only� 10 seconds faster than Grieg - Maersk, we’ll see how much that time is worth.



At least for the first third of teams, it’s comfortably enough to stay in the lead. Puma - SAP ties Grieg-Maersk for second place, cycleYorkshire is 2 seconds slower.

Following the second checkpoint, we have the first rider of Zwift being overtaken by the Grieg train. The gap between the two teams has gone up from 53 seconds to 1’22 and it’s gonna be a fight for the Americans to not get overtaken entirely before the finish line.



Zwift might be able to fend off finishing last though: Huski has had a really rough middle sector, losing over 15 seconds to them.



cycleYorkshire on the other hand seems to be doing fairly well. They’ve jumped ahead of Puma into provisional third place. At the top, we still have EA Vesuvio, but they increase their lead over Grieg-Maersk by a mere second.

Team UBS are the next big hitters on the road. But they fall short of expectations for the moment. At + 20, they’re even behind ELCO - ABEA right now.



Aker - MOT fares much better and with a deficit of just 6 seconds, they come closest to EA Vesuvio so far.



Moser - Sygic do an admirable job early, crossing the line faster than King Power and even Minions - Subwoolfer, both of whom were expected to be stronger teams. We’ll see if they can keep this up.

The first teams are finishing before the last ones are even on the road. Zwift Pro Cycling manages to cross the road first and fend off Grieg-Maersk, but the Norwegian outfit takes place on the hot seat for a bit.



Poor Carr and Young are overtaken not just by Grieg, but also by MOL Pro Cycling. With only Tenorio as a top time trialists, the guys in green and red don’t have a chance at a top result, but for what they can do, finishing 43 seconds behind the current leaders is a decent job well done.



We haven’t talked much about De Stijl Cycling so far, but they fit in a similar category. One very good time trialist - Cataford -, not a ton behind that. But they take care of business in that they stay ahead of Zwift and Huski Chocolate among this first crop of teams, and that’s all you can really ask for.



EA Vesuvio on the other hand are competing for nothing less than the win here. And they seem to have a very strong finish, doubling their lead over Grieg-Maersk from the second time check to 22 seconds. That’s a high bar to clear.



In the close race for the provisional podium places, Grieg-Maersk remains in second place, then cycleYorkshire stays ahead of Puma - SAP by less than a second. They almost overtake Huski Chocolate, who indeed slip into last place behind Zwift.

Aker - MOT continue at a good pace and lose just one additional second to EA Vesuvio, remaining firmly in second place for the moment, now just 7 seconds behind.



King Power on the other hand continue to underperform. After being just 3 seconds behind Moser - Sygic and 2 behind ELCO - ABEA at the first time check, those numbers shoot up to 16 and 8 at the second. This is not looking good at all for a Top 10 finish, which could and probably should have been the ambition here. Far more disappointing though is the performance of Team UBS, who are once again tied on time with King Power at this moment.



Meanwhile, we very unsurprisingly have a new contender for last place. The sixtett of Isostar - Specialized were actually ahead of Zwift at the first checkpoint, but their lack of depth shows and they fall over half a minute behind them and Huski Chocolate.

Some very strong teams are still to come in this final group. First, it’s Polar, who come close but can’t quite beat EA Vesuvio yet, they’re 2 seconds slower.



Then come Duolingo and it’s even closer! They’re less than a second behind the lead!



Tinkoff - La Datcha meanwhile have to fight for even any Top 5 ambitions. They’re in the Puma / Grieg range for now. ISA - Hexacta is the only other team of this group to enter the provisional Top 10 for the moment, significantly outperforming their pre race status. Los Pollos Hermanos are slightly disappointing, just 16th for now.

We’ve only mentioned them in passing so far, but ELCO - ABEA have done fairly well here. Led by world class time trialist Vlatos, they ultimately lose a good chunk of time on the final sector but might still have given themselves a chance at a Top 10 result.



Team UBS are one of the bigger disappointments of the day. They started with the Top 5 in mind and will likely not even end up in the Top 10. They seem to have a decent final sector, gaining back a few seconds on ELCO - ABEA, but not enough to overtake the Greeks.



Aker - MOT come in next and they continue to impress with their stability. Only losing another 2 seconds to EA Vesuvio on the final stretch - compared to the 10 and 11 of Puma and Grieg, for instance -, they might have an eye on a podium finish now.



Moser - Sygic are another positive surprise. They keep up a good pace and come in 6th, just 5 seconds behind the current 3rd place of Grieg - Maersk and a whopping 24 seconds ahead of King Power, who finish behind ELCO and UBS.



Not much was expected of Gazelle, and they don’t give us much either. They’re far from last place, that goes to Isostar as discussed. But they’re only a few seconds ahead of Zwift, so it’s going to be a bottom five result for the team around Dees.



The Minions came here with higher ambitions, and a decent final sector might have just secured them at least a Top 10. While they stay behind Moser, they just barely sneak ahead of ELCO.

It’s going to be an incredibly tight race until the very end. Polar record the best second sector of any team, they’re now tied for first place with EA Vesuvio, while Duolingo lost a bit but is still just 3 seconds off the lead. With Aker at + 7, it looks like the former three teams will make up the podium spots - but in what order?



Los Pollos Hermanos continue to struggle. 16th at the first time check, 16th again at the second. And not super close to the teams in front of them either. The same is true for Popo4Ever, the second wild card team next to Minions. They’re another 12 seconds behind the Mexican guys. Of this final group, only Aegon - Peroni is even worse.



But quite a few teams are having a poor second sector now. ISA - Hexacta were 9th at the first time check and drop to 14th, the Top 10 now 8 seconds away. And Tinkoff - La Datcha go from 6th at + 10 to 9th at + 22, which would be a dismal result for a team that was targeting the podium.

Only two teams can potentially still topple EA Vesuvio - the first is Polar. Viennet leads them over the line and …



Following Los Pollos Hermanos, who couldn’t turn things around in the final stretch, Popo4Ever come to the finish line. As expected, they lose the wild card battle against Minions, and by quite a margin. They end up 1’30 behind EA Vesuvio, who are still in the lead at this point.



One team can still change that, and here they come. Tied with EA Vesuvio at the first time check and then 3 seconds behind at the second, Duolingo end up …



Then it’s Tinkoff at the finish. They’re certainly one of the bigger disappointments of the day, coming in only at 9th place, over half a minute behind today’s winners.



ISA - Hexacta can’t replicate their very strong first sector and end up 13th, still a respectable result for them. Finally, it’s Aegon - Peroni who conclude this race. They were never going to do anything special, 19th is about right for them.