There we go. The Delta Tour Zeeland starts with a 5,7km prologue in Vlissingen. The course is absolutely flat and with Flens we can also name a huge top favourite for today.
Besides of the stage win it`s most interesting to see the sprinter times in the end. With two flat sprinter stages to follow there is an important mark of ~40s, which the sprinters need to underbid to have a fair chance to win the overall.
Steegmans is one of those quick sprinters, who also has a decent prologue. So definitely someone for the GC. As he left the start very early, we don`t have a real knowledge about his time yet, but we will see soon. 7'42 for him.
Sebright one of the best prologue riders today and so he easily beats the best actual time by 3s. But it`s just 5s faster than Steegmans, which might be too less.
Flens is the clear favourite today and a good bet for the overall as well. Otherwise the team still has two strong sprinters here. So definitely a strong squad to watch for.
7'27 for the Dutch in his home race, which means 9s quicker than Sebright and 15s to Steegmans. So the sprinters will definitely get their chances when collecting enough bonus seconds.
Joeaar as next prologue specialist. The Estonian can`t beat Flens but just 5s off moves him to 2nd. A very good ride by him.
Hacecký comes next and might already be the last pure prologue rider. 3rd for him 7s behind Flens.
Giacoppo also belongs to the sprinters with a good kick on those short time trials. And being just 14s behind moves him into a good position as best sprinter so far.
But here comes Keough. The US American with a very strong ride losing just 10s which moves him into the top 10.
Abdallah is a very good sprinter but against the clock his performances are usually awful. No differences today: 39s to Flens, so he is just inside the 40s mark, but this will be very hard for him now.
Dekkers is another rider in his home race. The Dutch sprinter surely hopes for good results here. But he most likely needs to concentrate on the sprinter stages only as he is losing 24s already today.
Kankovský is one of the best sprinters in this field and also one of the best prologue riders. Great combination here. With a time of just 7s to Flens he is moving into the 4th spot and into a great position to attack the yellow jersey in the sprint finishes.
As last top sprinter Guillén is on the road. He really struggles against the clock and also today he isn`t sitting very calm on his bike. And Flens` time is long time gone when he finishes the prologue. Looking back on the display to realize, this wasn`t good at all: +41s and this way needing 2 wins and intermediates to have a chance to win here.
So his team may have to change tactics and ride for Steegmans instead, who did a far better job today.
So let`s have a lock over some sprinters:
While Kankovsky (+7), Keough (+10), Giacoppo (+14), Steegmans (+15), Chavanel (+16) or Duque (+19) did fairly well, we have some riders with bad chances to improve that much like Dekkers (+24), Gavazzi (+39), Abdallah (+39) or Guillén (+41).