These riders all are more than 5 minutes behind Cattaneo. Though some might have a shot at the top 20, or even a top 10, they should most of all fight for stage glory.
Lindeman is 1st to go, but it’s Debusschere who sets the first time of 35’22, already 1’16 ahead of his teammate.
The hot seat keeps changing though, with guys like Vernon, Zhupa and Milan taking it successively.

Predatsch is the first to get a real interesting time though, in 32’10, passing Awuku and Bouhanni on the way. Even Kittel is 22 seconds behind on the intermediate chrono. Knotten comes close (2’’ at the intermediate chrono), but finishes 6 seconds behind in the end.

Here is the top 20 with 50 riders finished.



Gonzalez Salas is the first favorite on the field, and indeed he’s 17’’ faster than Predatsch at the chrono. Li, who follows, can’t do better than 2 seconds slower than Predatsch, and even 10’’ late on the finish line. Gonzalez Salas took the hot seat with a new best time of 31’41.

Belevics, though 9’’ late with 12 km left to ride, has a decent stage and might challenge Gonzales Salas. Same for Wolf, 14’’ behind. The Latvian champion can’t do better than 2nd (31’55).
Wolf and Bjerg successively takes the provisional 3rd place.

Dumoulin continues to not be at his best, 5th for now, with 87 riders left, 26 seconds lost on Gonzales Salas.

We can look at the top 20 for now, with 100 riders being done.



Penko is the next one to be 3rd, replacing Bjerg.

Rekita is on a good day! The Jura rider is 2’’ faster than Gonzales Salas on the chrono, and 3’’ faster than Van Niekerk who comes behind him.
The Polish rider even increases his lead! He takes the hot seat for 8 seconds, with a time of 31’32.
Van Niekerk takes 3rd.

Durbridge has to redeem himself, and he could well do it, being only 1’’ late at the chrono. Can he overcome Rekita? He surely passes some riders on the way.
But no, 2nd only, 3’’ late.
4th of the opener, Golovash doesn’t seem like he’ll repeat that today. He was 13 seconds late at the chrono, and 26’’ on the finish line.

Nothing much passes as we progress to the end of this bunch of riders. Novak is the last of them, and takes a provisional 18th place (+0’43).

Here is the top 20 situation.

Those 24 riders are more than 2 minutes away from the GC lead. Still some places to earn for them!

Beniusis could have wanted to be one of them, but that seems unlikely for the Lithuanian champion, already 25’’ late at the intermediate chrono.
Onodera does better, losing only 7’’ which could still be taken back.
Mäder (22nd, +3’08) has a shot at entering the top 20, and to win some places in the youth classification, though taking the white jersey seems to be impossible. Sadly, he already lost 43’’ at the chrono.
And indeed, he finishes 40th (+1’10). He might even lose some places in the GC…

Dennis (19th, +2’57) may dream of more. And he’s provisional 3rd, 6 seconds behind Rekita! That’s a good ride, which should allow him to overcome Reis, Habtemichael and Helme.

174 riders have finished, and the end of the race is approaching.

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Fernandes finishes provisional 10th. He lost 26 seconds to Rekita, so his 13th place should be safe.

Herrada loses 57’’. That’s bad.

Christodoulos has a chance to take the white, with already two good stages in his pocket. That’s 33 seconds to retake to Conci. But his intermediate chrono wasn’t really good.
And indeed, he loses 54 seconds to Rekita. Even though his 3rd place in the youth classification wasn’t threatened, he should at least lose a GC place.

Rikunov doesn’t seem better set up… And he loses more than 3 seconds to Christodoulos! The Cypriot will take 2nd in the youth classification.

Taaramäe is 33’’ behind Rekita on the finish line. He should be safe in the top 10, but I’m not sure that will be enough to take any place.

Paillot (8th, +1’19) was only 2’’ slower than Rekita at the chrono. Could he take back the yellow and earn a 2nd stage win?
31’34. He beats Durbridge to 2nd, but stays behind Rekita.

7th, +’012 for Haig. He’ll lose a place to Paillot.

Kämna has also a very good first hald (+0’02). If he holds on, he’ll be safe from Paillot in the GC.
And indeed! Same time as Rekita! 2nd for now, but that’ll be judged at the end. Strong ride by the German.

Only 5 riders left, let’s have a look at the classification.



Conci already lost 14 seconds on the chrono. He finishes provisional 10th, 23 seconds behind Rekita. Ouch. He should stay ahead of Haig, but will be passed by Kämna and Paillot. The white is safe, though.

Dunbar also comes in fast… but 1 seconds slower than Rekita and Kämna. With Cuming and Rodrigues having already lost 30’’ at the chrono, he’ll at least be 2nd!

Cuming loses 56’’. He should stay in the top 10. Same for Rodrigues (+0’50) who even saved enough advance to stay on the podium!

And race leader Cattaneo is in the final kilometer! He lost 17 seconds on the chrono, which should allow him to keep the GC. He had a 30’’ advantage on Dunbar this morning…
28 seconds lost on Rekita on the line, that 27 on Dunbar. Cattaneo wins the Bayern Rundfahrt for 3 seconds!

That’s it, everybody comes to the podium for the celebrations.

Rekita celebrates a stage win



Cattaneo takes a deserving GC



Rodrigues comes home with a stage win and the best climber classification, thanks to his show of strength yesterday.



Dunbar consoles himself with the points classification



Conci was the favorites, and indeed finishes in white, as the best young rider



And Minions is the best team here in Bayern