cycling: Tour de France Stage #20 Time Trial Prediction & Start Times

Cycling: The 2017 Tour de France is not over yet. Today the decision will be made in the fight against the clock. The 20th stage of the Tour de France is a time trial in Marseille. Who will cycle to the victory of the day? What does the podium look like after the time trial? As usual, we analyze all the important details in our preview and give our tip. We also have the starting times of all professionals for you.

Tour de France one day before the end: Only 3 seconds separate the top 29

Luke Rowe (Sky) sat on his bike for 87 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds in the Tour de France. This puts the Briton in 167th place overall. No other rider needed longer for the 19 stages this year. His compatriot and teammate Chris Froome (Sky) was more than four and a half hours faster. Chris Froome can win the Tour de France for the fourth time today. His teammates also have a large share in this success – including Luke Rowe. The last will be the first today. The 22,5 kilometer individual time trial starts in the reverse order of the classification. At 13:50 Luke Rowe will roll off the launch pad. Today he cannot help his captain, at least on the track. But Chris Froome may not need any help at all, because the fight against the clock is one of his strengths. But due to the close standing in the general standings, Chris Froome cannot yet feel safe. Third-placed Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) is just 29 seconds behind him. A Luke Rowe can only dream of such time intervals.

Who is still fresh after around 3.400 kilometers in the Tour de France?

A time trial at the end of a Grand Tour has its own set of rules. After three tough weeks, skills in the fight against the clock are no longer the only things that count. It seems much more important how well a professional can regenerate. The classic ranking drivers therefore have an advantage. They gear their training towards being able to deliver their best performance even in the third week. Drivers like Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) or Chris Froome (Sky) have their strengths here. The pure time trialists - such as Stefan Küng (BMC) or Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) - are not quite as fresh in the third week of a major national tour. Therefore, the qualities of these two groups of riders approach each other the later the time trial is held on a tour.

Chris Froome: “It's a fast course with a small climb outside of town. It should suit me as it will be a very powerful time trial.”

Our tip: Chris Froome crowns his fourth victory in the Tour de France

After around 14 kilometers, a small climb begins in the time trial. It goes up to the Marian pilgrimage church in Marseille. It's only 1,2 kilometers to Notre-Dame de la Garde, but the average gradient of 9,5 percent will give some time trialists a lot of trouble. The Küngs and Martins will lose time here. All in all, we don't assume that a pure time trial specialist will prevail today. Tony Martin and Stefan Küng will get good positions, but it's not enough for victory. Rather, we expect a duel between Primoz Roglic and Chris Froome. A Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) or a Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) could also have a serious say. But both already had to do a lot of work for their boss. Ultimately we believe in a stage win for Chris Froome, who also underpins his fourth success in the Tour de France. In the battle for the podium places we see Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) ahead of Romain Bardet (Ag2r).

***Chris Froome
**Primoz Roglic, Vasil Kiryienka
* Tony Martin, Stefan Küng, Jonathan Castroviejo

Time trial start times: Tony Martin starts at 14:56

13:50 Luke Rowe (Sky)
13:51 Tom Leezer (LottoNL-Jumbo)
13:52 Rüdiger Selig (Bora-hansgrohe)
13:53 Robert Wagner (LottoNL-Jumbo)
13:54 Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac)
13:55 Borut Bozic (Bahrain-Merida)
13:56 Dimitri Claeys (Cofidis)
13:57 Florian Senechal (Cofidis)
13:58 Olivier Le Gac (FDJ)
13:59 Albert Timmer (Sunweb)
14:00 Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)
14:01 Jaco Venter (Dimension Data)
14:02 Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin)
14:03 Fabio Sabatini (Quick-Step Floors)
14:04 Bernhard Eisel (Dimension Data)
14:05 Davide Cimolai (FDJ)
14:06 Reto Hollenstein (Katusha-Alpecin)
14:07 Mathew Hayman (Orica Scott)
14:08 André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
14:09 Ramon Sinkeldam (Sunweb)
14:10 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
14:11 Michael Gogl (Trek Segafredo)
14:12 Grega Bole (Bahrain-Merida)
14:13 Christian Knees (Sky)
14:14 Rick Zabel (Katusha Alpecin)
14:15 Julien Vermote (Quick-Step Floors)
14:16 Thomas Boudat (Direct Energy)
14:17 Roy Curvers (Sunweb)
14:18 Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
14:19 Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis)
14:20 Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data)
14:21 Markel Irizar (Trek Segafredo)
14:22 Jürgen Roelandts (Lotto-Soudal)
14:23 Frederik Backaert (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
14:24 Christophe Laporte (Cofidis)
14:25 Yohann Gène (Direct Energy)
14:26 Mike Teunissen (Sunweb)
14:27 Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin)
14:28 Marcus Burghardt (Bora-hansgrohe)
14:29 Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis)
14:30 Vegard Stake Lengths (UAE)
14:31 Adrien Petit (Direct Energy)
14:32 Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo Oscar)
14:33 Dion Smith (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
14:34 Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto Soudal)
14:35 Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida)
14:36 ​​Andrey Grivko (Astana)
14:37 John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)
14:38 Javier Moreno Bazan (Bahrain-Merida)
14:39 Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data)
14:40 Julien Simon (Cofidis)
14:41 Maciej Bodnar (Bora-hansgrohe)
14:42 Dmitry Gruzdev (Astana)
14:43 Vasil Kiryienka (Sky)
14:44 Patrick Bevin (Cannondale-Drapac)
14:45 Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal)
14:46 Yoann Offredo (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
14:47 Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar)
14:48 Yukiya Arashiro (Bahrain-Merida)
14:49 Matteo Bono (UAE)
14:50 Jack Bauer (Quick-Step Floors)
14:51 Scott Thwaites (Dimension Data)
14:52 Florian Vachon (Fortuneo Oscar)
14:53 Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie)
14:54 Daniele Bennati (Movistar)
14:55 Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors)
14:56 Tony Martin (Katusha Alpecin)
14:57 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
14:58 Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott)
14:59 Jay McCarthy (Bora-hansgrohe)
15:00 Marco Marcato (UAE)
15:01 Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin)
15:02 Alessandro De Marchi (BMC)
15:03 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar)
15:04 Bakhtijar Koshataev (Astana)
15:05 Imanol Erviti (Movistar)
15:06 Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac)
15:07 Damien Howson (Orica Scott)
15:08 Nikias Arndt (Sunweb)
15:09 Angelo Tulik (Direct Energy)
15:10 Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo Oscar)
15:11 Andrey Amador (Movistar)
15:12 Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac)
15:13 Danilo Wyss (BMC)
15:14 Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energy)
15:15 Pavel Polyansky (Bora-hansgrohe)
15:16 Ben Swift (UAE)
15:17 Stefan Küng (BMC)
15:18 Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo)
15:19 Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac)
15:20 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)
15:21 Nicolas Edet (Cofidis)
15:22 Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin)
15:23 Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin)
15:24 Michael Schär (BMC)
15:25 Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Bahrain-Merida)
15:26 Alexey Lutsenko (Astana)
15:27 Koen de Kort (Trek-Segafredo)
15:28 Michael Matthews (Sunweb)
15:29 Axel Domont (Ag2r)
15:30 Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo Oscar)
15:31 Romain Sicard (Direct Energy)
15:32 Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb)
15:33 Oliver Naesen (Ag2r)
15:34 Michael Valgren (Astana)
15:35 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Orica-Scott)
15:36 Simon Geschke (Sunweb)
15:37 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Movistar)
15:38 Jens Keukeleire (Orica Scott)
15:39 Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky)
15:40 Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)
15:41 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis)
15:42 Maxime Bouet (Fortuneo Oscar)
15:43 Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac)
15:44 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Trek-Segafredo)
15:45 Gianluca Brambilla (Quick-Step Floors)
15:46 Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal)
15:47 Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott)
15:48 Kristijan Durasek (UAE)
15:49 Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac)
15:50 Cyril Gautier (Ag2r)
15:51 Janez Brajkovic (Bahrain-Merida)
15:52 Andrei Times (Astana)
15:53 ​​Jarlinson Pantano (Trek Segafredo)
15:54 Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fortuneo Oscar)
15:55 Nathan Brown (Cannondale-Drapac)
15:56 Darwin Atapuma (UAE)
15:57 Marco Minnaard (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
15:58 Diego Ulissi (UAE)
15:59 Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo)
16:00 Ben Gastauer (Ag2r)
16:01 Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energy)
16:02 Rudy Molard (FDJ)
16:03 Thomas Degand (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
16:04 Nicolas Roche (BMC)
16:05 Amael Moinard (BMC)
16:06 Robert Kiserlovski (Katusha-Alpecin)
16:07 Mathias Frank (Ag2r)
16:08 Sergio Henao Montoya (Sky)
16:10 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Cofidis)
16:12 Romain Hardy (Fortuneo Oscar)
16:14 Pierre-Roger Latour (Ag2r)
16:16 Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energy)
16:18 Roman Kreuziger (Orica-Scott)
16:20 Guillaume Martin (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
16:22 Jan Bakelants (Ag2r)
16:24 Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal)
16:26 Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal)
16:28 Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data)
16:30 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Movistar)
16:32 Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)
16:34 Brice Feillu (Fortuneo Oscar)
16:36 Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe)
16:38 Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r)
16:40 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Sky)
16:42 Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
16:44 Damiano Caruso (BMC)
16:46 Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo)
16:48 Warren Barguil (Sunweb)
16:50 Louis Meintjes (UAE)
16:52 Simon Yates (Orica Scott)
16:54 Daniel Martin (Quick Step Floors)
16:56 Fabio Aru (Astana)
16:58 Mikel Landa Meana (Sky)
17:00 Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale-Drapac)
17:02 Romain Bardet (Ag2r)
17:04 Christopher Froome (Sky)

Tour de France preview: Those were the Velomotion predictions

The current overall ranking of the 2017 Tour de France after 19 of 21 stages