The Route
The opening time-trial features 11 kilometers in the flat roads of Frauenfeld in northeastern Switzerland and it's a nice one to open things up. It's essentially a prologue, although technically you can't call it that because of the distance, the route will have 10 turns that will force the riders to freewheel (to say the least, possibly brake) so it's not a perfect fit for the specialists but the absence of a climb will mean they will be the men to beat.
The Weather
There will be a western breeze throughout the afternoon that may change to northern as the stage goes by, but most importantly there are chances of rain showers on the road, more likely later than earlier in the route which may favour those looking to have an early surprise in the technical TT. Of course it may also be equal to everyone.
The Favourites
Although it's a pan-flat time-trial it's not all about the pure power (and aerodynamics). The stage is very short and it has quite a lot of corners throughout it's entirety, specially in the first half. Means the reckon will be extra important as there are seconds to be won or lost in those corners, not just to make sure you carry as much speed through them but also to find the spots where you can save some watts and try to use the brakes as less as possible. That, combined with the luck with the weather can prove crucial tomorrow and throw up some surprises.
However naturally some riders are naturally gifted and are the main favourites for tomorrow, I would say it is a quite even field with a ton of world-class time-trialists who will be looking to get the first leader's jersey, on one corner you have the home riders Stefan Bissegger and Stefan Kung who will have special motivation for this stage and will for sure take every risk they can to get this win, which would be incredibly important for either of them, and on the other side there's Rohan Dennis who has already taken an initial TT win in Suisse this year, bakc in Romandie and also in Soren Kragh Andersen who usually excels in these technical time-trials, it's really not an easy call on who will take it I have them essentially at the very same level all of them.
If nothing weird happens the win should be there, but weird things can indeed happen tomorrow and so the spot is open for plenty more riders, prologue specialists like Benjamin Thomas and Tom Bohli for example will surely be looking to take big risks and getting what would be a career-changing win, you have other strong time-trialists like Patrick Bevin, Antonio Tiberi and who knows even Tom Dumoulin who could pop up in the front and then stay there indefinitely, you have the guys who will be looking to get the jersey in the next few days like Michael Matthews, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe, Marc Hirschi, Max Schachmann, all extremely talented and with quality to keep the gap very low to the winners.
And as the weather can have the biggest saying, I will include some outsiders like Andreas Leknessund, Cristophe Laporte, Luke Durbridge, Mattia Cattaneo and Stefan de Bod who can even on a regular day also finish up there in the Top10.
Prediction Time
⭐ Bohli, Bevin, Dumoulin, Alaphilippe, Schachmann, Laporte, De Bod
It's not like he came from nowhere but the palmares of Stefan Bissegger since joining EF has been notable, as he quickly rose to the very top of the TT scene and having already taken a big win this year he comes in as the bookie's favourite for a reason, racing home should give him that little extra bit necessary to pull on the lead of the race.
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