Main set an early benchmark for the first 30 or so riders, but Marchewka would soon come through and beat that handily. His time of 19’11 at the second checkpoint would stand for a while until Golovash bested it by 4 seconds. A bit later, both Siddikov and Quaade bested Marchewka.

Golovash had to sweat a bit in the hot seat as Siddikov kept the gap very close at the third time check, but ultimately the Uzbek fell short by 7 seconds. That time was one second faster than Quaade and three seconds faster than Marchewka.

Latvian TT champ Belevics was the first to beat Golovash at the second time check, being faster by 2 seconds, but he would not be the only one in this batch of riders who were out of the GC running. Bissegger tied the Tafjord - Kraft rider at both time checks.



But then came Gonzalez Salas and set a new best time by no less than 9 seconds at 18’54. To put that into perspective, that’s a bigger distance now between 1st and 2nd than between 2nd and 12th.

Noia was next, he also tied Bissegger and Belevics at +9. Sterbini at +10 relegated Golovash to 6th.



Sterbini’s teammate Sütterlin underscored how strong Gonzalez Salas’ time was by coming 3 seconds short - still second place for now, of course. Sajnok then slots in right between Sterbini and Golovash in 7th place.

After being tied at all three checkpoints, Bissegger finally gets the upper hand over Belevics at the finish line by a single second.



But neither of them holds a candle to Gonzalez Salas, who, with a time of 39’35, beats the Swiss by 18 seconds. Sütterlin keeps it as close as he can, but ultimately falls 2 seconds short, while Noia is provisional 6th, 2 seconds behind Belevics.

We now come to all the riders who had finished in the first bigger group on day 3 and are thus fighting for the top GC ranks. Tesfom is among those who can potentially reach the Top 10, or at least the Top 15. He’s 15 seconds off Gonzalez Salas at the second checkpoint, not a bad time, but 2 seconds slower than Wolf (+13). Kung also is 2 seconds behind the Indosat rider, tied with Tesfom.

All of them are then pushed back by Brunel (+9) and Jungels (+8) as well as Beniusis and Norsgaard, both at +4. This is the fight for the GC podium right here.



Rekita is also among the podium challengers, but he’s 2 seconds slower. Paillot on the other hand bests Beniusis and Norsgaard by 2 seconds, and is himself only 3 seconds behind leader Gonzalez Salas.



Or rather, former leader Gonzalez Salas. While Dunbar fails to beat the Spaniard, Zmorka certainly does not. 4 seconds at the first checkpoint, already 8 at the second - everything seems to be going according to plan.

Wolf takes an early provisional GC lead at the finish line with a time of 40’05, 2 seconds ahead of Kung and 3 seconds ahead of Tesfom.



Then comes Brunel. He’ll easily take the white jersey, but he also handily bests the riders above for a time of 39’57. While that will deliver him a solid GC rank, the provisional lead doesn’t rest on his shoulders for long.



First, Norsgaard beats him by 11 seconds, then Jungels by 2.



Norsgaard was tied with Beniusis at all checkpoints, and now at the finish line … the DK Zalgiris rider is one second faster! That should be the GC Top 5 locked up. With 4 big TT contenders left on the road, this is the provisional GC:

1.	Beniusis
2.	Norsgaard	+ 1
3.	Jungels	+ 10
4.	Brunel	+ 12
5.	Wolf	+ 20
6.	Kung	+ 22
7.	Tesfom	+ 23
8.	Kochetkov	+ 44
9.	Maccagli	+ 46
10.	Pszczolarski	+ 52

The first of those four is Rekita. He had consistently placed behind Beniusis and Norsgaard at the checkpoints and does so again at the finish line. 13 seconds behind Gonzalez Salas, that’s provisional 5th on the day and 3rd overall.



Then comes Paillot and he easily tops the GC. Third only to Gonzalez Salas and Sütterlin on the day, he’s 6 seconds ahead of Beniusis and thus firmly on the GC podium.



The question is, on which step? Dunbar was just a single second slower than the French at the previous checkpoint, but at the finish line, he turns it around and is ahead by one second! Could that little bit of slipstream from teammate Abdul Halil help have been the deciding factor?



I can tell you who did not need any slipstream: this guy right here. Living up to his status as the top favorite, Zmorka beats Gonzalez Salas by a whopping 17 seconds. To paint a similar picture to before, that’s a bigger difference than between 2nd and 8th place.



Of the riders who had gained some time on stage 3, Kanerva is the best and just about gets into the Top 20 in 19th overall. Sirironnachai didn’t stand a chance and fell to 35th, but I would be remissed if I didn’t deliver at least one picture of him in his yellow jersey, so here it is.