TDF: Time Trial to Dumoulin

GC contender Tom Dumoulin, the world champion no less, may have won the Time Trial stage of the Tour de France, British Time Trial Champion Geraint Thomas rode the race of his life to keep Yellow.

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

TDF: Time Trial to Dumoulin

World champion Tom Dumoulin took his second time trial victory in the Tour de France after stage 13 in 2016 to retain his second place overall behind Geraint Thomas who finished third in the Basque country while Chris Froome came second and deprived Primoz Roglic of the third position on GC.

145 riders were expected to start the only time trial of the 105th Tour de France. The first man on the road was Lawson Craddock (EF) who has been last on GC since his heavy crash on stage 1. Successively, Jay Thompson (Dimension Data), Amund Groendahl Jansen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) set new best times on the line until Michael Hepburn (Mitchelton-Scott) clocked in 42’15’’, which appeared as an excellent performance compared to the predictions of the experts.

The Australian remained on the hot seat for one hour and fourty-eight minutes. Marc Soler (Movistar) was first to better his time, albeit by only five hundredth of a second. Soren Kragh (Sunweb) was next to set a significant time at the average speed of 44.6km/h. The Dane didn’t last long in the lead as Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) rode one second faster than him.

In the fight for the top 10 positions on GC, Ilnur Zakarin moved to ninth and Nairo Quintana to tenth. Designated the super combative of the 2018 Tour de France, Dan Martin remained eighth. Romain Bardet rode 1’16’’ faster than Mikel Landa to pass him in sixth position.

Steven Kruijswijk comfortably retained his first top 5 but no LottoNL-Jumbo rider would make the top 3. Chris Froome quickly indicated that he had the resources to climb on the final podium of the Tour de France for the sixth time after finishing second in 2012 and winning in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. He was faster than Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic at the two check points: by 2’’ on both occasions over the Dutchman, by 30’’ and 49’’ over the Slovenian.

Geraint Thomas led the race at the two check points: 14 and 13 seconds ahead of Froome. But he didn’t go as fast as the other favourites in the third part of the course at the difference of Dumoulin who powered to victory at the end. The Dutchman won over Froome by one second. Thomas comfortably secured his lead overall on the eve of the conclusive stage on the Champs-Elysées.

… continued after advert

2018_MerlinCyclesAdvert

REACTIONS
Geraint Thomas : “I don’t know what to say, it’s just overwhelming. I didn’t think about it at all but… I’ve won the Tour man! I felt good, I felt strong, I felt really good actually and I was pushing a bit hard on the corners and [Sport Director] Nico Portal told me to relax, take it easy and just make sure I win the Tour. And that’s what I did – it’s overwhelming. I thought I could beat the guys here, but to do it on the biggest stage of all, over three weeks. That’s insane. Last time I cried was when I got married, I don’t know what’s happened to me.”

Tom Dumoulin said: “That was crazy! I can’t believe it. I still thought Froome was one second ahead when I crossed line. It has been an amazing last day, I was so nervous. I had such a hard time yesterday, but today it has just been great to take the stage win.”

Dan Martin: Commenting on the award of Super Combabitivity, Martin said: “I honestly can’t believe I’ve been given the super combativity prize. I really wanted to be on the podium in Paris but I didn’t think I’d do it this way – especially as I haven’t taken the prize on any of the stages. But it’s an honour and I’m speechless”.

Reflecting on the Tour he added: “It’s been an incredibly memorable Tour for me. It means so much, especially taking the first ever stage victory for UAE Team Emirates. Part of the reason I came to the team was to help create a legacy. It has been the mission of the team from the very beginning to bring cycling to the people of the UAE and to inspire the next generation of cyclists. That’s always been a passion of mine so it’s great to know that the cycling community has been glued to the TV watching us perform in France. It’s just unbelievable”.

Primoz Roglic: “We can be happy about the time trial. It is what it is. I produced enough power, but the others were just better today. I have to be realistic and be happy with my result. I gave everything I had; I couldn’t go faster today. All in all it was a nice Tour. I love this race. Unfortunately, I do not finish on the podium, but I am very happy with the fourth place in what is only my second Tour de France. It is a confirmation that I am able to ride for a GC in a grand tour. That is promising for the future.”

Steven Kruijswijk: “Yes, really beautiful! Before the Tour, I expressed the ambition to finish in the top five. If this works out among riders of such an entry, I can be more than proud of that. This is what I live for. It is also a confirmation that I can still do this. After my crash in the 2016 Giro, I did not really live up to the expectations, until now. As a team, we can look back at a succesful Tour de France with Primoz in fourth place and three stage victories. We rode offensively and we played a role of importance in almost every stage. We even offered Team Sky quite some resistance. We can definitely continue to build on this towards the future.”
… continued after advert

2016_ShuttVeloRapideAdvert

Stage
1. TOM DUMOULIN TEAM SUNWEB
2. CHRIS FROOME TEAM SKY 00′ 01″
3. GERAINT THOMAS TEAM SKY 00′ 14″
4. MICHAL KWIATKOWSKI TEAM SKY 00′ 50″
5. SØREN KRAGH ANDERSEN TEAM SUNWEB 00′ 51″
6. BOB JUNGELS QUICK – STEP FLOORS 00′ 52″
7. ILNUR ZAKARIN TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN 01′ 02″
8. PRIMOŽ ROGLIC TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 1′ 12″
9. MARC SOLER MOVISTAR TEAM 1′ 22″
10. MICHAEL HEPBURN MITCHELTON – SCOTT 01′ 23″

11. ADAM YATES MITCHELTON – SCOTT 01′ 26″
34. DANIEL MARTIN UAE TEAM EMIRATES 02′ 40″
45. MIKEL LANDA MEANA MOVISTAR TEAM 03′ 11″
58. JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE QUICK – STEP FLOORS 03′ 42″
95. TOM SCULLY TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST – DRAPAC 05′ 27″
112. LUKE ROWE TEAM SKY 06′ 01″
116. JACK BAUER MITCHELTON – SCOTT 6′ 07″

GC before the final stage
1 GERAINT THOMAS TEAM SKY
2 TOM DUMOULIN TEAM SUNWEB 1′ 51″
3 CHRIS FROOME TEAM SKY 2′ 24″
4 PRIMOŽ ROGLIC TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 03′ 22″
5 STEVEN KRUIJSWIJK TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO 6′ 08″
6 ROMAIN BARDET AG2R LA MONDIALE 06′ 57″
7 MIKEL LANDA MOVISTAR TEAM 7′ 37″
8 DANIEL MARTIN UAE TEAM EMIRATES 9′ 05″
9 ILNUR ZAKARIN TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN 12′ 37″
10 NAIRO QUINTANA MOVISTAR TEAM 14′ 18″ B

14 ALEJANDRO VALVERDE MOVISTAR TEAM
17 WARREN BARGUIL TEAM FORTUNEO – SAMSIC
19 RAFAL MAJKA BORA – HANSGROHE
26 BAUKE MOLLEMA TREK – SEGAFREDO
27 PIERRE ROLLAND TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST
29 ADAM YATES MITCHELTON – SCOTT
31 ROBERT GESINK TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO

… continued after advert

AlpsCyclesMidstory

Cycle Division’s Shop

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: