Tour of Ukraine ends today! Third and last stage bring us to a 25,9 km ITT in the district of Nadvirna, south of Ivano-Frankivsk.
For now, GC is lead by the punchers who have some good ITT skills, as they didn’t lose to much time in the first stage and created big gaps in the second.
Race favorite, Phinney is 5th for now, 20’’ behind yellow jersey Haig and 7’’ behind the other GC favorite, Wirtgen. Bernal (2nd) and Gidich (4th) could also threaten the world champion if they have a very good day.
Stage favorites are the usual suspects: after aforementioned Phinney and Wirtgen, we have the Ukrainian national champion Zmorka and other TT specialists like Sütterlin, Viennet and Durbridge. Let’s hope that these three won’t be too disturbed by the short, but steep slopes that are scattered around the route.
But enough talking, let’s go, the race is on!
Verona has had a very bad second stage, finishing good last, only accompanied by Kittel. He’s the first to go. Not a bad TT rider, but the field is quite stacked.
Anyway, he’s the first to pass the intermediate chrono, halfway to the stage.
First chrono
17’25
His companion of misfortune, Kittel, comes right behind him.
He’s got a better time.
First chrono
17’10
A moment later, Leung, is the first rider going under the 17 minutes. He even overcomes Gross.
First chrono
16’58
But Arslanov (16’40) and Prado (16’53) are even faster.
Viennet was on the favorites list. The Frenchman has a hard time on the hill though, he’s 35’’ slower than Arslanov.
First chrono
17’15
The first riders are coming to the end of the route. Though Leung has a good second half of the stage, he cannot make up his gap with Arslanov. The Russian leads the first Top 10 of the race.
Final time
33’16
Leung (33’21) and Kittel (33’32) complete the provisional podium.
10 more riders have started their race, including stage favorite Sütterlin.
The German has a very disappointing first half though.
First chrono
17’18
Cypriot national champion Christodoulos has a good enough first half.
He’s the new second on first chrono.
First chrono
16’43
Dumoulin will be member of the disappointed club (17’03), even though he’s 5th for now.
20 riders have finished the stage, and the top 3 didn’t flinch, Prado having a bad second half (33’46).
Christodoulos confirms his good form though, with the new best time.
Final time
33’13
He’s 3 seconds faster than Arslanov.
With 16’48, Tejada is 3’rd on the first chrono. Good race for the young climber, if he can continue with this rhythm.
Dees is a new best time on first chrono. He overcomes his teammate by nothing!
First chrono
16’40
But he’s not able to take the place on the hot seat, as he’s just a bit slower than Christodoulos, who still leads the race.
Final time
33’13
100 riders left! Top 5 at the first chrono is lead by Dees, followed by Arslanov, Christodoulos, Tejada and Herregodts, who had a good first half.
First chrono
16’48
The top 5 at the end of the race have Christodoulos as a leader, followed by Dees, Arslanov, Leung and Kittel.
Osorio takes a new best time in the first chrono (16’36, but he can’t keep his good pace all race long and finishes behind Christodoulos.
Final time
33’16
Kennaugh comes in next, with a very fast first chrono. He’s 5’’ faster than Osorio, and 11’’ than Christodoulos. With this advantage, he should take the hot seat, shouldn’t he?
Yes, the Brit is the new leader. But he lost most of his advance…
Final time
33’12
And he won’t enjoy his success long: Pelikan crushes his time.
He’s the first under the 33 minutes. Very good ride by the Hungarian!
Final time
32’49
70 riders until the end of the stage, and Zmorka is on the road!
The local champion has a very hard time in the slops though, as he’s only 18th on the first chrono.
First chrono
16’53
Meanwhile, Portuguese NC I. Oliveira is close to race leader Pelikan (16’27).
Zmorka finishes behind Osorio. He’ll be disappointed.
Final time
33’18
And as we’re in the last 50 riders, we have a new race leader!
Oliveira could beat Pelikan with a very good time.
Final time
32’45
Geoghegan Hart’s first chrono is in the style of the rest of his race here in Ukraine, as he’s only 15th (16’44).
30 riders still have to begin their race. Top 5 at the finish line is still Oliveira, Pelikan, Kennaugh, Christodoulos and Dees. Only the first two are under the 33 minutes.
Occupied with the ranking, we missed his performance, but Fung had a good enough run to be 3rd. He has a 20’’ gap on leading duo, though.
Final time
33’09
As stage favorite Fraile and third on the young rider ranking Conci have begun their tour.
Meanwhile, Girdlestone takes the new best time on the intermediate chrono.
First chrono
16’25
Crncevic confirms his good first half of the race, as he takes third on the provisional ranking, just ahead of Fung.
Final time
33’09
Fraile takes the new intermediate. He’s 4’’ faster than Girdlestone (16’21).
And the ten GC leaders will soon begin their race! Girdlestone takes the new best time (32’43)…
Only to be quickly replaced by a very fast Fraile.
Final time
32’28
Now we’re only waiting for the favorites to enter the frey.
With race leader Haig, we can take a look at the top 15 in the first chrono.
Phinney (who could believe it?) is now leading the race at half stage.
First chrono
15’58
He’s the only one under 16 minutes.
There is no rider with less than a 30’’ gap. The closest are Reis (35’’), Mano (37’’), Wirtgen (32’’), Bernal (38’’) and yellow jersey Haig (35’’).
Phinney already made up his gap on the yelow jersey at half race. If he continues like this, he’ll crush all the opposition!
Bobridge with an anonymous race. He’s 1’46 slower than Fraile.
Final time
34’12
McCarthy is not a TT rider, and that shows. He’s overtaken by yesterday’s hero, Van Garderen. Mano also seems very strong.
Phinney now passed Sagan.
And, well, yes, he’s a world above everyone. 45 seconds faster than Fraile.
Final time
31’45
McCarthy finishes second to last, 6’06 down. Van Garderen is 3’16 down. Mano loses 37’’. Sagan loses 2’30. Gidich loses 1’50.
Wirtgen is near the end. Will he be able to contest the first place?
Not even close. He loses 1 minute and takes 5th.
With only a 1 minute gap at the chrono on Mano, Bernal should be able to hold on the young rider jersey.
He does! The Columbian loses 13’’ to the Thai, but he had a 1’ gap before the last stage.
Final time
33’03
Haig probably know that it’s his last kilometre in yellow (for this race, at least). Unless...
Welp, no miracle here. Still not a bad stage for him.
Final time
32’59
—
And that’s it for this year Tour of Ukraine.
Phinney takes the 3rd stage as well as the 1st…
He leads the GC with a fair margin, not really flinching after the hard hilly second stage.
Thanks to yesterday’s victory and a good enough TT, Sagan takes the KoM jersey.
Obviously, Phinney wins the points ranking, with 2 stages out of 3.
Bernal brings home a satisfactory young rider win, as well as a top 5.
And thanks to a good depth, King Power takes the teams ranking. They never really got threatened either.
Thank you to everyone for following these exciting race with us, and we’ll be happy to see you here next year.
