Benvenuti in Ticino, cari spettatori - welcome to the 2022 Tour de Suisse prologue from Quinto, Ticino. We're in the sole fully Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland - and today's route actually starts alongside the river giving its name to canton Ticino.
Eight pretty flat kilometers await the riders - although we have a slight downhill leaving Quinto, and a short yet not really steep climb up to the Airport in Ambrì.
Besides the Santi Pietro e Paolo church, Quinto is best known for one of the most jammed highway sections of Switzerland. Let's hope that no rider will get stuck today!
Ambrì, on the other hand, is a name every ice hockey fan in Switzerland knows - but nobody knows where the village actually is, given that it's miles from anywhere. They still have a small airport, though, so at least some recreational pilots know it. But living there isn't easy during winters, as the sun can't be seen during several months...
But we're almost in summer now, so the sun should well be there today - and even though we have partly clouded weather, at least one rider will definitely shine at the end of the stage.
Which one, though? Given that neither recovery nor climbing should be a factor today, the bookmakers favor the pure TT powerhouses. Viennet, Wirtgen and Sütterlin top their list, followed by Howson, Hepburn and Dillier. With Keizer, we have a second GC rider on the list, rounded off by Razumov, Oliveira and Haugard. Let's see if Wirtgen and Keizer can indeed gain a couple of seconds against the top climbers!
We'll provide an in-depth coverage of the #1 bib per team - but let's first take a look at the current standings at the finish line. We'll ignore the split time for once, given the shortness of the course.
What happened so far
We'll start with 10th through 7th. The final Top10 spot is currently held by Dees, with a finishing time of 10'06". He was even 3rd when he finished, but that was pretty early in the race.
We have another experienced rider in 9th place, as Dumoulin was 1" faster than his compatriot. The same time was posted by Czech ITT champion Kukrle, who sits in 8th place.
Which is one spot below his teammate Atkins, who was the last of the current Top10 to finish his race. The Kiwi posted a time of 10'04", so yet another second faster.
This trio finished today's stage yet another second quicker, in a time of 10'03". Lithuania's TT champion Beniusis is the lowest ranked of them, followed by the main Swiss candidate for a top result, Dillier. But he managed only 5th place for now.
In 4th place, we have Irish TT champion Mullen, who was luckiest of this trio in terms of fractions.
Currently in 3rd place, we have one of the very first starters - and definitely the first strong time triallist to start. Verona took the early lead in 10'02", and he was only beaten by two other riders so far.
Howson completed today's task another 3" faster, posting a time of 9'59". However, he wasn't the first rider to dive below the 10 minutes mark, as that was our current leader. Who is...
... Tanfield! The Brit finished his race in 9'58", which is the current leading time with one rider per team yet to tackle the race! And given how many strong time triallists he has already left behind, it remains to be seen how many - if any - riders can actually challenge him...
Let's again take a look at the current Top 10, as well as some other interesting names - be it stage or GC favorites:
Ambrì - Finish Line
1.
Tanfield
9'58"
2.
Howson
+ 1"
3.
Verona
+ 4"
4.
Mullen
+ 5"
5.
Dillier
+ 5"
6.
Beniusis
+ 5"
7.
Atkins
+ 6"
8.
Kukrle
+ 7"
9.
Dumoulin
+ 7"
10.
Dees
+ 8"
15.
Kittel
+ 11"
17.
Haugard
+ 11"
20.
Hepburn
+ 12"
21.
Viennet
+ 13"
23.
Razumov
+ 14"
30.
Powless
+ 16"
40.
Oliveira
+ 17"
52.
Sütterlin
+ 21"
60.
Taaramäe
+ 24"
68.
Pluchkin
+ 28"
83.
Roglic
+ 34"
92.
Kirsch
+ 36"
113.
Carthy
+ 41"
Surprisingly, pretty much all of the GC riders didn't have great legs today - with Powless currently looking best of those, although "just" being an outsider. But the others will still have to take back the time they lost today.
And without much further ado, let's dive into the last round of riders!
LIVE +++ LIVE +++ LIVE
Herrada goes first in the last round, being considered Volcanica's team leader for this race. As an OK-ish time triallist, he also posts an OK-ish time - 54th place in 10'20" (+ 22").
Another local rider is next, but Lienhard isn't a specialist against the clock by any means. However, he finishes on a respectable 46th place, just 20" short of the best time - 10'18".
The next one on the start list is in a totally different league in terms of time trialling, though. And Thai TT champion Mano definitely will want to target the stage win today!
He indeed does get close, really close... 9'55" ... 9'56" ... 9'57" ... 9'58" ... 9'59" ... 10'00" ... 10'01" ... 10'02". Which is the exact same time as Verona - but Mano is ranked ahead of the Spaniard, currently slotting into 3rd place! A great race!
Almeida is one of our top U25 contenders - but time trialling isn't his main strength. So he'll be trying to not lose too much time today.
And let's put it that way: He more than achieved this goal, even putting some time into every single comparable or stronger climber, finishing on provisional 14th place, just 9" down - 10'07"! Huge ride by the Portuguese considering his usual TT performances!
Vervaeke puts in a much less spectacular ride, and hence a slower time - 10'19" (52nd, + 21"). However, he still matches Sütterlin's time and beats the likes of Taaramäe or Pluchkin... And no, it's not a question of windy weather today, the others were just bad.
We then have another GC contender with Geoghegan Hart. And while the Brit can't challenge his leading compatriot for stage honours, he sets a solid base to his GC ambitions - 10'07" (14th, + 9"), just like Almeida, who he surely was expecting to beat, though.
The last Swiss rider out on the road today is Hirschi - definitely not a rider with any ambitions today. The youngster finishes rather far down the results list, with a time of 10'28" (79th, + 30"). He still beats e.g. Roglic, though.
Lunke surely does have different ambitions, both today but especially in terms of GC fight. And the Norwegian capitalizes on the short climb in the second half of the race, to even finish inside the provisional Top 20 - 10'09" (18th, + 11").
Welten is here for the sprints, and definitely doesn't care about today's stage. He loses a whopping 50" on these 8 kilometers - which is still almost a minute faster than the current red lantern, though. Which is Rivera, just to give him a mention.
Back to some more interesting facts! Surprisingly, Conci was given bib #1 in his team - and he shows why! The young Italian approaches the finish line with a great split time, and he even looks to be fighting for the stage podium!
9'58" ... 9'59" ... 10'00" ... 10'01" ... 10'02" ... 10'03"! That's just 5" lost - but he slots in behind all of Mullen, Dillier and Beniusis, who finished with the same time! 8th place it is for Conci - let's find out tomorrow if he indeed will lead his team, and if Taaramäe will be fine with playing second fiddle!
After the GC rider, we get the next sprinter. Redecker is similarly slow as Welten, but still a tad faster - 10'44" (130th, + 46").
We continue our alternation, as Berhane goes next. However, given his lack of TT skills, he might not exactly be a GC rider, but definitely a great climber. The Eritrean - unfortunately - lives up to his capabilities against the clock, and finishes even behind Redecker. 10'45", which is 131st place and a 47" deficit. That's even slower than Carthy and definitely the worst time of a climber so far.
It's again a sprinter's turn - and Hayakawa takes the lead in the race for the red lantern! He's one second slower than Rivera - 11'43", which is a 1'45" deficit!
We only have 10 riders left - and all of them do have some more or less serious GC ambitions. Pogacar will be even more of a threat with one more year of experience, but he's already doing a great job for his team this year!
Not today, though, not today. He barely finishes inside the provisional Top 100 - 10'32" (93rd, + 34")! He clearly wasn't up to his taks today, he'll have to hope for some better legs tomorrow!
Keizer usually is a rock solid time triallist - but the first section, which is partly downhill, definitely wasn't to his liking, and he was outside the Top 30 at the split. He only lost one more second on the last part, though, which brings him inside the provisional Top 15: 10'06" (12th, + 8"). Which makes him the second best GC rider behind Conci so far.
However, eight more GC contenders are yet to come - Shikai being the first of them. The Chinese is pretty fast against the clock - and so he is today. He gets close to the podium spots at least - remember that 10'02" is Mano's time for P3:
9'58" ... 9'59" ... 10'00" ... 10'01" ... 10'02" ... 10'03" ... 10'04"! It's the same time that Atkins posted, but Shikai is ranked behind and takes the final provisional Top 10 spot.
This won't last for long, though, as Wirtgen is seriously challenging his teammate's hot seat! The Luxembourger was one of the bookie's top favorites, and while both Viennet and Sütterlin didn't deliver, the EA Vesuvio rider certainly does!
9'53" ... 9'54" ... 9'55" ... 9'56"! We have a new race leader - Wirtgen beats teammate Tanfield by two seconds! This time will now be the benchmark for all of those who want to have a say in the GC!
Choi is certainly a stronger climber than the new race leader, but he isn't as strong in time trials. Or at least not today, as he loses slightly more than 20" - 10'18" (58th, + 22"). Not great, but certainly not bad, either, looking at many other strong climbers' times so far.
Haig goes next, and while he certainly doesn't post a bad time, it clearly isn't as strong as one might have expected, either. He still limits the damages, finishing in 10'11" (32nd, + 15"). Not much harm done, and not many GC contenders ahead of him. Four are yet to come, though...
Barguil is the big hope of local Team UBS, but the Frenchman doesn't exactly like time trials. Which shows in his final time of 10'24" (76th, + 28") - right in between Taaramäe and Pluchkin. It could have been worse, but he'll have to do something big in the mountains to make up for this loss - and the second TT.
So, onto the final three riders. Morton is the first of them - but he didn't do well on the first section. And wasn't fast on the second, either - it's a big time loss for the Australian! 10'35" (119th, + 39") - no, that was not good at all. At least, he knows what to do tomorrow, right?
And he might have an ally in Kudus, who does equally bad, posting the exact same time! Almost 40" lost for the two strongest climbers in the race - we'll surely get some fireworks tomorrow then!?!
Only one rider is left - Bernal, the massive favorite for the U25 standings. And maybe even for the entire GC, given his main competitors' bad day?
Well, the Colombian doesn't have the best of days, either. It looked pretty well at the checkpoint, but he faded in the end, finishing in 10'09". Which is 27th place, but only 13" lost. We'll definitely be in for a great week of racing now!
But before we go ahead, let's take a look back at what happened today! Our first stage winner is one of the top favorites - Tom Wirtgen! The Luxembourger delivered according to the expectations, and won the stage with a 2" advantage over his teammate Harry Tanfield - a great start for EA Vesuvio without any doubt!
3rd place goes to Damien Howson, who lost 3" out on the road and who can still be very satisfied with this result. Congratulations to today's podium riders - and those time triallists who didn't perform up to their normal level will get another chance on the final day!
The stage result obviously is identical with the GC, and so we see again Tom Wirtgen stepping up to the podium. He'll make it three, as he'll also get the points jersey.
But let's just discuss some of the potential implications of today's stage on the final GC. Wirtgen has stamped his authority on the race now - and tomorrow could already be the most crucial stage for him and his rivals, given that the queen stage awaits the riders. Our race leader isn't the strongest climber by any means, but he's got a 30km time trial up his sleeve, where he'll likely put some - or a lot - more time into most climbers.
So the likes of Morton or Kudus, who lost 40" today, will have to gain a lot of seconds tomorrow, and on every other uphill occasion. Shikai is looking great right now, as he only lost 7", while Bernal has to make up a 14" deficit. It's then 16" for Haig, 23" for Choi, 26" for Taaramäe, 28" for Barguil and 30" for Pluchkin.
We already mentioned the two pre-race top favorites at 40", while Carthy - who probably won't care that much being "just" a domestique - and Berhane round off the field of top climbers with a 43" respectively 49" gap. Which in turn might give riders like Keizer or Geoghegan Hart - 10" and 11" down - some real hope for a great GC result. And what about Conci, 9th of the day, who is just 7" down?
In any case, the big climbers have to gain as much time as possible tomorrow, given that those who did well today are likely to do well also on stage 7 - and there we might not talk about losing seconds, but minutes!
We'll skip the green jersey presentation for today (well, the jersey is actually red with black dots - we'll surely see it tomorrow), given that we already saw Wirtgen twice on the podium, and move on to the U25 standings.
Yuttana Mano missed out on the stage podium by just 3", but he was the fastest of the U25 contenders. He's 1" ahead of Justas Beniusis and Nicola Conci, with Almeida and Bernal following in 4th and 6th, 5" and 8" down. Expect to see a tense fight for white tomorrow!
Despite skipping the celebrations for the points jersey, we still see the EA Vesuvio shirt again, as they easily lead the team standings after day one. Their double win bring them 11" clear of Duolingo and 12" ahead of Moser - Sygic.
And that's all for today! We'll be back in Quinto tomorrow for the queen stage to Crans-Montana - see you then!
Tour de Suisse 
