Zingle is the first rider to go, but he’ll not even have the first result, as he’s overcome by Vanhoucke right before the first chrono. This first reference time is 29’37.
No one can come even close to him, until Wolf crosses the halfway line. He’s already 40 seconds faster.
Taaramäe is the first of the notable GC riders to be on the road. He has a decent first half, only 1 seconds off Wolf. That is, until Rikunov overthrow them by 30 seconds! His time is 28’27. Penko makes the mid-stage in 28’47.

Meanwhile, Wolf takes the hot seat with a final time of 51’28. That is 1’11 faster than Vanhoucke. Taaramäe beats the German by 7 seconds, but the others are arriving too.

At half-stage, Li is the fastest for now, with a time of 28’23.

Rikunov replaces Taaramäe in the hot seat, with a new best time of 50’26, which is 54 seconds faster than the Finn, and 38 seconds faster than Penko and, in the end, enough to fend off Li, 1’’ off.

Predatsch is already 23 seconds late at half-stage.
As a GC outsider, Rodrigues doesn’t have the best of days: 12th in the intermediate chrono, 1’10 behind Rikunov and 35’’ behind Taaramäe; whereas Novak can be happy to be only 44 seconds late, but he still has 18 km to ride.

And with the 60 first riders finish, let’s have a look at the top 20!

There are new favorites on the road in this bunch! 3rd on the intermediate chrono (20’’ off), Kämna only loses 13 more seconds on the finish line, to be on the provisional podium, with a 21 seconds advantage on Taaramäe. Coming right after, Rekita is 2 seconds behind on the intermediate chrono.

Plapp (20th, +1’23) and Laengen (16th, +0’59) first halves of the stage, considering the level here. One to live up to his jersey is the Cypriot champion Christodoulos, who takes the provisional chrono lead (28’19).
Onodera might be his main contestant of the bunch, though he’s already 7 seconds off.

Rekita took back enough time to Kämna on the second half, he’s provisional 3rd.
Van Niekerk isn’t on a really good day, already 10’’ slower at half-stage.

Rekita won’t be on the podium today: he’s overthrown by Christodoulos, who’s 30’’ faster, but can’t take the hot seat.

There is another chance for Jura on the road with their GC leader Mäder. At the chrono, he’s in the same time as his teammate. That’s a strong result for now, let’s see whether he’ll hold on.

But all the eyes are on the French champion Paillot. He logically takes 1st in the chrono. Golovash follows him, 8’’ off. Meanwhile, Onodera is 18’’ late on the finish line.

Paillot is flying! He finally takes the hot seat to Rikunov, who kept it warm for a long time! The Frenchman is 15’’ faster.
Mäder has a hard 2nd part, and he roughly is in the same time as Taaramäe.

Fernandes (9th, +0’30) and Dennis (8th, +0’28) also have good first parts.

In the end, neither Golovash (+0’10) nor Dennis (+0’53) could challenge Paillot.

Let’s have a look at the rankings!

Kittel can’t repeat his opening victory. He’s 1’10 off at the finish line. And for quite some time, there aren’t any noteworthy results, with Dumoulin being 26’’ off at half-stage and 51’’ in the end.
Beniusis is in the decent scope (18’’ late on the first chrono), given Paillot’s strong result, while we can’t say the same by the day’s favorite Durbridge: he’s 40’’ off at the chrono. This feels good for Paillot! Even Gonzalez Salas is 15’’ late.

Durbridge finishes at an anonymous 17th place, 1’03 behind Paillot.

Conci wants to already assert his leadership for Zara: he’s in the same tim as Dennis and Fernandes in the first chrono.

At the finish line, Gonzalez Salas is 20 seconds behind his teammate, whereas Conci finishes 47’’ of, in the same time as Kämna.

In line for the best young rider jersey, Pogacar is 1’40 off. That’s much time lost on Rikunov (1’26) and Conci (0’56).

Last year winner Dunbar was 3rd at the chrono. He wants to show he’s here to win again, and indeed he finishes provisional 2nd, only 13’’ behind Paillot. What a ride for the Irishman!

Reis can’t hope to match that. But he might be satisfied with only losing 30 seconds. Not the same of Haig, 45’’ behind Dunbar. Very bad day for Amaysim.

Not too bad for Cattaneo, 8th and 23’’ behind Paillot, 10’’ behind Dunbar.