Originally Posted by USAZorro
The OP was a bit "over the top", but I think it is a fair question to ask. It isn't often that an early time in a TT holds up as well as Lange's did. Given that a number of strong TT riders who went later on didn't better it suggests that the wind may have picked up at some point during the day.
That Honchar (or Gonchar, or whichever way his name is getting spelled today) won, really shouldn't be that surprising. For me, the surprise was that so many from T-Mobile did so well, when only a couple other riders on other teams had "good" results.
Actually not as unusual for an early time to hold up as one might think. It is a bit unusual in the TDF, but that is in large part because by the first 'real' (e.g. excluding the prologue) ITT there has been a TTT and it makes sense that the best time trialists and the contenders are usually on teams that put out a good TTT. This year no Team Time Trial and the result is riders all up and down the placing that are decent time trialists.
Oh and the winner should be no surprise to anyone besides 99ers. (That is not to say knowledgable fans would not have picked other riders to win, just that after the fact it is not at all surprising).