15km of time trial might bring another decision in the GC. Rujano as big favourite after yesterdays win has a 41s advance to Castano, who is under pressure by Pellizotti.
Another interesting duel is the fight between Lövkvist and Lloret, who are both 1'15 back, but just 30s to Pellizotti. Both of them still with chances for the podium.
Next to these duels also the fight for the stage win might be interesting. Top favourite Schädlich surely wants to win here. Also Elijzen, Koren or Vandborg are aiming for this win.
Next to the pure strength against the clock another factor could be the ability to recover from yesterdays hard stage and to perform well on todays slopes.
3 early time trialists to bring up the first times:
Ligthard
Van Aelbroeck
Zrimsek
So Ligthard with a first explanation mark of the day.
1
Pim Ligthart
Koppert Cycling Team
23'53
2
Michiel Van Aelbroeck
Saab - Scania
+ 12
3
Jure Zrimsek
Aker Solutions - Bergans
+ 14
Big favourite Schädlich
Sutherland
As expected Schädlich sets a new best time. But the gap might have been expected to be bigger, so maybe not the best course for pure time trialists.
1
Lucas Schädlich
VolksWagen - Siemens
23'47
2
Pim Ligthart
Koppert Cycling Team
+ 6
3
Rory Sutherland
Team WWE
+ 10
4
Michiel Van Aelbroeck
Saab - Scania
+ 18
5
Jure Zrimsek
Aker Solutions - Bergans
+ 20
Mazur
Sestili
Aramendia
Elijzen
Another sign that hillier riders might do well here. Elijzen with the same time than the German.
1
Lucas Schädlich
VolksWagen - Siemens
23'47
2
Michiel Elijzen
Team Bpost
s.t.
3
Javier Aramendía
Team Bianchi
+ 1
4
Piotr Mazur
Team Bianchi
s.t.
5
Luigi Sestili
Team Venchi ProCycling
+ 5
Now some better puncheurs combined with time trial skills. Vandborg
Koren
Vanendert
Nicacio
Big disappointment for Volkswagen`s Schädlich, who surely hoped for a stage win here. But the time gaps are becoming bigger now with the puncheurs surely having an advantage here. Especially Vanendert won`t beat Schädlich in many ITT`s.
1
Kristjan Koren
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
23'28
2
Jelle Vanendert
Team Bpost
+ 7
3
Pedro Nicácio
Cerne
+ 16
4
Lucas Schädlich
VolksWagen - Siemens
+ 19
5
Michiel Elijzen
Team Bpost
s.t.
6
Javier Aramendía
Team Bianchi
+ 20
7
Brian Vandborg
UniCredit
s.t.
Coming to 2 unlucky riders, who were involved in the crash of stage 2 but with solid performances on the mountain stage. Larsson
Ratiy
Larsson with a new best time and also Cobo and Visconti performing excellent, while Ratiy had a weaker day.
1
Gustav Larsson
Aker Solutions - Bergans
23'27
2
Juan José Cobo
Team Bianchi
s.t.
3
Kristjan Koren
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
+ 1
4
Jelle Vanendert
Team Bpost
+ 8
5
Giovanni Visconti
UniCredit
+ 13
...
30
Vadim Ratiy
VolksWagen - Siemens
+ 33
A close fight between these 3 for the last top 10 places. Martinez
(Tinkoff) Kolesnikov
Parra Bustamante
Martinez as lucky guy will be placed 7th afterwards behind Eastman and ahead of Kolesnikov and Parra Bustamante, who started as best before this stage.
6
Yasmani Martinez
Hollister
+ 14
8
Ryan Eastman
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
+ 18
10
Sergei Kolesnikov
T.CS Bank - OJSC
+ 19
35
Edwin Parra Bustamante
Team CSC-Orbea
+ 33
Coming to the top 5 and surely the best climbers yesterday.
First the duel for the last podium spot. While first two have the same time, Pellizotti has a small advance but is also the weakest against the clock. Lövkvist
Lloret
Pellizotti
Lloret wins the duel against Lövkvist by just 2s but Pellizotti also had a good ride on the hilly terrain and will defend the last podium.
1
Gustav Larsson
Aker Solutions - Bergans
+ 23'27
2
Juan José Cobo
Team Bianchi
s.t.
3
Manuel Lloret
Team Bianchi
s.t.
4
Kristjan Koren
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
+ 1
4
Thomas Lövkvist
Saab - Scania
+ 2
...
9
Franco Pellizotti
Team Venchi ProCycling
+ 16
Coming to the last two. Castano is surely the better time trialist but as other riders already proved it`s a harder course than it actually looks like, so 41s might be enough for Rujano.
Wow. That`s an excellent time by the Spaniard. He destroys Larsson`s time by 16s. This couldn`t have been expected but obviously he recovered much better from the hard stage yesterday.
1
Carlos Castaño
Pirelli - Alfa Romeo
23'11
2
Gustav Larsson
Aker Solutions - Bergans
+ 16
3
Juan José Cobo
Team Bianchi
s.t.
4
Manuel Lloret
Team Bianchi
s.t.
5
Kristjan Koren
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
+ 17
This sets Rujano under pressure and he needs a good ride now.
And it is enough for the man from Venezuela. He loses 30s today but still having a 11s gap to Castano. He will defend his overall lead and just needs one more stage to go to get a good win for Pokerstars.
In general a pretty unexpected result with many puncheurs beating the pure time trialists. But at least it was exciting until the end.
Castano with a strong result can still hope for the overall win tomorrow. At least he got the point jersey as extra motivation today.