For the penultimate stage the peloton leaves the Alps behind for a 52 km long ITT near Paris. The GC fight is still on as Phinney has a 2’21 gap to overcome which will be hard but not impossible as he’s also the best man against the clock in the field. There’s also some potential for reshuffling in the first 13 places of the GC. With a gap of more than 8 minutes to 14th place we will focus on the best TT riders and the Top 13 of the GC.
Christapopoulos is the first rider on the course and also a capable rider on the TT bike. He sets a first time of 1h02’35.
Tanfield is riding soon after the Greek and one of the best TTists in the field. He’s quicker at all three checkpoints and sets a new best time by 1h01’46.
Australian NC Wohler isn’t far behind, 21‘’ to be exact.
Razumov is the next fast rider as he sets new best times at all time splits. He finishes in the new best time of 1h01’31.
Bjerg pretty much matches the split times of the Russian. He is 4 seconds faster in the end and sets a new benchmark wit 1h01’27.
The next contender is Russian NC Zakarin. His split times are pretty much the same like those of the two others. He finishes in 1h01’21 and is in the hot seat after the best pure TT riders are through.
The Thai NC Mano is the last of the biggest contenders for Phinney. His split times are within 2 seconds at the first splits, he takes the lead by the third split and finally the hot seat with a time of 1h01’12. He’ll probably stay there until the WC arrives at the finish.
Vlasov sets new best times at the second and third split. Will he take the lead? No, he misses the hot seat by a mere second!
Kämna is in the mix too as he’s less than 10’’ behind at the third split. He finishes in provisional 4th place with a gap of 14’’.
And this is the provisional result at the finish with the Top 13 of the GC still to come:
Before the first of the GC riders reaches the finish line we’ll take a look at their results at the first time split:
provisional position
rider
stage gap
GC gap
1
Lecuisinier
+00’27
leader
2
Phinney
+00’12
+02’06
3
Bernal
+00‘26
+04‘53
4
Barguil
+01’10
+06’56
5
Sivakov
+00’31
+07’00
6
Pogacar
+00’28
+09’49
7
Carthy
+01’14
+10’58
8
Warchol
+01’27
+10’59
9
Hirt
+00’27
+12’16
10
Penasa
+00’57
+12’36
11
McNulty
+00’04
+13’25
12
Cattaneo
leader
+13’32
13
Quintana
+00’56
+13’33
Cattaneo is the first of the 13 to cross the line and he does so in style as he sets a new best time in 1h00’48.
Meanwhile all of the Top 13 are through the second time split, the results there look like this:
provisional position
rider
stage gap
GC gap
1
Lecuisinier
+00’31
leader
2
Phinney
leader
+01’50
3
Bernal
+00‘32
+04‘55
4
Sivakov
+00’47
+07’12
5
Barguil
+02’07
+07’49
6
Pogacar
+00’45
+10’02
7
Carthy
+02’32
+12’12
8
Hirt
+00’57
+12’42
9
Warchol
+02’55
+12’54
10
McNulty
+00’11
+13’28
11
Cattaneo
+00’01
+13’29
12
Penasa
+01’58
+13’33
13
Quintana
+02’02
+14’35
McNulty is the next to finish and he is provisional 2nd there with a gap of 16’’. He misses the GC lead by a mere 5’’.
Quintana has lost quite some time and finishes 3’16 down. He’s only 3rd in the GC for now.
Hirt loses 1’34 in the end but that’s enough to take the GC lead by 9’’.
Penasa loses 3’05 and is only 4th in the GC for now.
Now everyone’s through the third time split the results there look like this:
provisional position
rider
stage gap
GC gap
1
Lecuisinier
+00’40
leader
2
Phinney
leader
+01’41
3
Bernal
+00‘43
+04‘56
4
Sivakov
+01’05
+07’21
5
Barguil
+02’52
+08’25
6
Pogacar
+01’03
+10’11
7
Hirt
+01’16
+12’52
8
Carthy
+03’29
+13’00
9
Warchol
+04’00
+13’19
10
McNulty
+00’13
+13’21
11
Cattaneo
+00’07
+13’26
12
Penasa
+02’45
+14’11
13
Quintana
+02’44
+15’08
Carthy even loses 4’01 and is 4th in the GC for now.
Warchol is the worst TT rider of the GC guys and he shows that by losing 4’38 and getting 5th place in the GC for now.
Pogacar is 1’03 behind which is enough for the provisional GC lead and the U25 win.
Sivakov is 1’05 behind. That’s the provisional GC lead for him.
Barguil loses 3’08 and a place in the GC.
Bernal is only 35’’ behind and takes over the provisional GC lead. That’s a podium finish for him!
Phinney was already fastest at the last splits and he indeed shows why he wears the TT rainbow jersey as he takes over the lead in the stage with 1h00’25 and of course also in the provisional GC.
Lecuisinier was behind all the stage, but the gap was still okay. And he doesn’t crack at the end and comes in 6th place losing 54’’. That’s the maillot jaune in Paris for him!
Congratulations to Phinney for the second TT in this year’s Tour. He doesn’t only secure 2nd place in the GC but also 2nd place in the points classification. But the leaders of all classification stay the same once again.
[PTM] Tour de France 
