The bookies said we should keep an eye on Riders of Rohan, SEE Turtles and Gjensidige today, but others definitely have their shot at the podium as well
Bianchi Enel are the first at the start, but they drop down to 5 riders and eventually to 4 not long after the start. They do set up the first reference time of 49 minutes and 10 seconds though
Tafjord Kraft didn't keep their weaker riders along for too much time either. 10 seconds behind Bianchi Enel at the intermediate check point and 10 seconds at the finish line to take the provisional lead. They won't be anywhere near the podium with that peformance though!
IESE looked like a much more composed team and were 21 seconds faster at the intermediate checkpoint. But they blew up quite spectacularly in the second part of the race, ending up 2 seconds behind Tafjord Kraft at the finish line!
Steven Lammertink is leading the JEWA Tirol train, but his pace might be a bit too high for his team-mates as the train breaks into two quite soon. This seemed like good tactics at least in the first half where they had the same time as IESE. While they were also much slower in the second half they did manage to take the provisional by 1 second from Tafjord Kraft
No early splits for Riders of Rohan, who are a very well balanced and put together team for this type of races. They beat up the best time by 10 seconds at the intermediate checkpoint. And their numbers show off in the second half as they storm towards the finish line. More than 1 minute faster than the previous leaders and a faster time than last year's winners. They could very well be our winners today.
The bookies rated Gjensidige very high today and after the intermediate checkpoint they seem to have made a good prediction as they were only 3 seconds slower than Riders of Rohan. But a rather early split into two of their team ruined their chances completly. They were 50 seconds off the pace at the finish line and while they took the provisional second place at the time they finished, a podium seemed to be just an unrealistic dream
Philips managed to keep their main time - trialists together until the very end and while they were 9 seconds off the pace at the intermediate check point, the Zmorka led train managed to gain back 2 seconds in the second half to take provisional second place, only 7 seconds behind the leaders! A great ride by them
With the two top teams from last year gone to PT, you'd expect Simba Cement to try to improve on their third place from last year. And while their team is not as well glued together as last year they did look like they might find their way to another podium as they were only 7 seconds off the pace at the check point. But they had a very similar fate to Gjensidige in the second part of the race. Only it was worse for them as they eneded up in last place as they crossed the finish line, 1 minute and 18 seconds slower than Riders of Rohan
They wouldn't stay there long as Euskotren were next and they ended up being over 1 minute slower than Simba Cement, putting them at almost 2 and a half minutes behind the current leaders
The Basque team wouldn't stay in last for too long either as despite having good four time-trialists, Sauber were way off the pace today. The other half of team was really weak which made it very hard for the main 4. Over three minutes lost!
Another team split into two halves, Lierse suffered from the lack of more good time-trialists especially in the second half and ended up finishing 47 seconds behind the leaders
Somebody has to finish last and it looks like that will be Air New Zealand. Already more than 1 minute behind at the intermediate checkpoint, they ended up more than 3 minutes behind Rohan at the finish line
SEE Turtles do have strenght in numbers and despite beating Philips at the intermediate checkpoint by 1 second, they finished behind them, 26 seconds behind Rohan, but good enough for a provisional podium
Lotto-Caloi would quicky take their place on the podium though by 5 seconds! Similar time to the Turtles at the checkpoint, but held their pace better in the second part. A bit of a surprise if you ask me!
Another quick change on the podium and once again it's for third place! Despite a slower start where they were trailing the leaders by 18 seconds at the intermediate checkpoint, Tryg managed a better time even than the leaders in the second part, finishing only 14 seconds slower than Riders of Rohan
Zwift were the last team to take off and obviously the last to finish. With a similar time as Tryg at the intermediate checkpoint, it didn't look good for them as they would also need a huge ride in the second half to turn things around. And while they did do better than most teams in the second half of the race, it was only enough for 6th place, 30 seconds behind the winners.
And here they are! Today's winners and new kings of PCT team time - trials, Riders of Rohan!
