Tour de France: Stage 20 time trial start times

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On the penultimate day of the Tour de France, the time difference between the top three riders has never been closer. Ahead of the 22.5km Marseille time trial, Chris Froome (Team Sky) holds a 23-second advantage of Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) with a further six seconds over Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac).

Froome is expected to increase his lead over the duo in the race against the clock and will have the advantage of being the last of the 167 starters to roll out of the Orange Velodrome at 5:04 pm. Bardet rolls out of the Olympique de Marseille home stadium two minutes earlier with Uran starting his test against the clock at 5:00 pm.

Team Sky's Luke Rowe is the first rider to start the stage at 1:50 pm with Thomas Leezer of LottoNl-Jumbo the next rider the start ramp one minute later. The riders will head at one-minute intervals until the top-15 who will be separated by two-minute intervals. Of the early starters to watch, chrono specialist Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) should set an early benchmark when he rolls out at 1:54pm.

The next challengers are expected to be Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 2:41 pm and former world champion Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) two minutes later. World champion Tony Martin starts his race at 2:56 pm and will be aiming to make up for his opening day loss on home soil in Dusseldorf. BMC's Stefan Kung at 3:17pm and Jonathan Castroviejo 30 minutes later should also be contending for the victory. Primoz Roglic is arguably the last of the non-GC riders expected to contest for the win when he rolls out at 3:59 pm.

Read more on this article

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• Tour de France in Froome's hands ahead of Marseille time trial
• Preview: Stade Velodrome offers grandstand finish for Tour de France time trial
• Bardet: Nothing is decided, but my Tour de France is already a success
• Tour de France: It was difficult to attack Sky, says Uran

Of the GC riders, Nairo Quintana will be searching for 12 seconds to overtake Damiano Caruso and move into 11th place. Alberto Contador will likewise be looking to take back 13 seconds on Warren Barguil to move up into eighth overall. Closer to the podium, Fabio Aru needs 20 seconds to jump back into fourth and relegate former teammate Mikel Landa into fifth place.

However, the main interest of the stage is the battle for the yellow jersey and how 22.5km along the Marseille coastline will shape the the final podium in Paris. 

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Tour de France stage 20 time trial start times