Key events
Vollering looks nervous in the leader’s hot seat, but her time of 7min25secs is looking increasingly likely to win the stage now. Just two riders to go, now. Ahtosalo finishes with 7min52secs, but that’s not a bad time for the GC standings.
Second in the GC standings, Anniina Ahtosalo, has around 2km to go. Vos is hurtling down the home straight, but she’s not going to beat Vollering. Vos finishes in 7min43secs, 18 seconds off the lead.
Lorena Wiebes, who was just pipped in the sprint by Kool in the stage two sprint finish earlier this morning, is riding in such a gruelling low gear. She’s nearing the finish now.
The wearer of the yellow jersey, Charlotte Kool, is the next down the ramp in front of a home crowd.
Marianne Vos, still one of the most complete bike racers in the world and a veteran of 22 time trial victories in her career, is off the ramp. Could the 37-year-old contend here?
French rider Cédrine Kerbaol, of Ceratizit–WNT Pro Cycling, with a very good time of 7min35secs. She is currently fourth, as things stand. Chapeau!
A nice camera angle of Vollering, here, on the home straight.
Could Charlotte Kool make it three stage wins from three? The dsm–firmenich PostNL rider is getting ready for her start. Just like many riders, Kool is keeping cool is a special vest to keep her core temperature down. Unlike any others riders, she is wearing a yellow jersey underneath. It’s a balmy 28°C in Rotterdam today.
Demi Vollering, our defending TdF champion, is our new time trial leader!
The Dutch rider absolutely emptied the tank there. What a finish. In the first two stages, Vollering has spoken at her frustration at how things panned out. Perhaps she used that frustration to good use here. She finishes five seconds ahead of Dygert! A time of 7min25secs. Wow!
We’re into the final 500m. Vollering is grimacing as she flies down the home straight. She’s out of the saddle. This is going to be close!
Vollering is level with Dygert at the time split! She has just over 1km to go. Can the defending champion snatch a surprise stage win here in the time trial? She has only won three time trial in her career to date. What a place to win your fourth …
Another GC contender, Markus, finishes just seven seconds adrift of the leaders. That’s a really strong ride from the Team Visma–Lease a Bike star.
Demi Vollering, defending Tour de France champion and the overall favourite, is the next cab off the rank. She’s not a serious contender for today’s stage, but will hope to limit any losses and stay in the mix.
Less than a second separates the top three riders: Dygert, Adegeest, Faulkner.
Riejanne Markus, of Team Visma–Lease a Bike, is the next major contender to go off the ramp. She has targeted a stage victory in the time trial.
This was Adegeest’s reaction to losing the lead.
Chloé Dygert is our new leader!
The American takes the lead, beating Adegeest’s time by just 0.17 seconds! A time of 7min30secs. The camera pans to a rueful Adegeest in the leader’s booth. Dygert, meanwhile, is absolutely empty, doubled over her bike at the finish line as she gets assistance from her Canyon–SRAM team.
Anna Henderson is approaching the home straight! The British rider is also going to finish just outside Adegeest’s time, six seconds adrift. It really puts into perspective how impressive Adegeest’s ride was.
Faulkner finishes just 0.77 seconds behind our leader, Adegeest! Wow, Faulkner was one of the favourites here but Adegeest’s time is holding up so far. But with Henderson and Dygert out on the course, perhaps we will have a new leader soon.
Dygert launches herself off the ramp! The American is off! Not sure how much a nose piercing weighs, but the 27-year-old is sporting one today.
Dygert, the pre-stage favourite and world time trial champion, is doing her final checks. We’re getting into the business end of things here.
British time trial champion Anna Henderson, meanwhile, is also out. She has won short, punchy prologues in the past.
Kristen Faulkner, a former rower and investment banker (and current Olympic road race champion) who only took up cycling in 2017 when she started riding around Central Park, is out on the course.
No! Van Dijk finishes just one second out from compatriot Adegeest, in a time of 7min31secs. The FDJ–Suez rider keeps the lead, with Van Dijk in second.
Ellen van Dijk, of Lidl–Trek, is right on time with Adegeest! The Dutch rider is going flat out as she approaches the final turn. This is going to be tight! Will we have a new leader?
Chloé Dygert, the pre-stage favourite here, has been speaking to the cameras about her tactics for this time trial:
All gas. From the start. Throw up at the finish.
French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health) finishes in sixth place as things stand, 18 seconds adrift of our leader Adegeest.
Grace Brown speaks to the cameras:
Really quite disappointing that I can’t make it through 6.3kms without a puncture. I needed to keep going and respect the race. It just would have been nice to finish on the golden bike. It’s been great riding in the Netherlands, there’s so many people here, but I have to say I was just focusing on the course. All the corners are pretty fast, though, it’s not complicated.
Brown finishes just 19 seconds off the leader, Adegeest, in a time of 7min49secs. Remarkable really. She surely would be our new leader if not for that puncture. I estimate it cost her around 30 seconds in time.
Puncture for Grace Brown, the Olympic time trial champion!
Disaster for the Australian! Brown puts her hand up signalling to her FDJ–Suez team that she needs to change her bike. She’s off the golden bike, and after a brief stoppage, she sets off again on the new bike. That is a costly incident though, although completely not her fault of course!
Lizzie Deignan, 2015 world road race champion, finished with a time of 7min 54secs, 24 seconds off the pace of our leader Adegeest. I enjoyed this piece we did before the Olympics on the British rider.
We should mention that the road surface is quite bumpy in Rotterdam, particularly as there are so many tram lines to go over.
Here comes Grace Brown, the Olympic time trial champion. She was playing her chances down in pre-stage interviews, suggesting that this course was almost too short for her (favouring some of the most powerful sprinters) but she is certainly one of the favourites here and will definitely be going for a stage win here.
Australia’s Neve Bradbury, of Canyon–SRAM, has given an interesting interview after posting her own time of 8min 16secs. She said that she wasn’t riding on “pure vibes”, alluding to the fact that most riders aren’t measuring their power, basically just going full throttle because it is such a short course.
Bradbury also mentioned that there was gravel on one of the corners, so maybe something to watch out for in the remaining riders. So far, thankfully, there have been no crashes in this third stage.
Given the 6.3km distance, we’re obviously not going to see massive gaps in the GC standings. Most will try and tuck in, not empty the legs and stay in contention.
The average speed of the riders round this course is a touch over 50km/hr, which is approximately the speed of a tiger sprinting at full pelt. Not sure which of those is more relatable. But all you need to know is: the riders and the tigers can shift it.
Loes Adegeest, of FDJ–Suez, is our new leader, bringing the time to beat to 7min30secs.
Elena Pirrone, the 21-year-old Roland rider, has posted the fastest time so far: 7min 44secs.
There are lots of candidates for the stage win. Here are the 11 national time trial champions participating this afternoon in Rotterdam.
Riejanne Markus (Netherlands)
Kimberley Le Court (Mauritius)
Katrine Aalerud (Norway)
Anniina Ahtosalo (Finland)
Grace Brown (Australia)
Christine Majerus (Luxembourg)
Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France)
Emma Norsgaard (Denmark)
Margarita Misyurina (Uzbekistan)
Antri Christoforou (Cyprus)
Anna Henderson (Great Britain)