BMC Racing’s Stefan Küng claimed today’s individual time trial at the BinckBank Tour, after clocking the fastest time of 10:58 around the 9 kilometer route in the city-center of Voorburg.
Küng was handed an early start in today’s time trial, after finishing towards the back of the peloton during yesterday’s opening stage.
The Swiss rider had the good fortune of riding during the best of conditions, while the rest of the competition faced heavy rain and crashes on various corners including former time trial world champion Tony Martin who hit the deck.
“The goal is to take the lead to the finish,” Küng said. “It’s going to be hard because there are some difficult stages to come, in the Ardennes and to Geraardsbergen. But I’m coming off the Tour de France in good shape so I’ll fight for it to the end.”
“It was a really difficult parcours. Even when I went out the roads were wet and it was raining slightly. There were a lot of tricky corners. We saw a few crashes and you had to be focused. There were like 20 turns and you have to remember which one you take which way.”
“I saw [BMC press officer] Georges [Lüchinger] give the thumbs up after the line, like ‘you have the best time.’ So then I thought, okay, Dumoulin, Bodnar, Jos van Emden, a lot of good guys beaten, but you hope until the end. Then you know.”
“For sure with Peter Sagan, on a parcours like this, very technical, he can do amazing stuff on his bike. And he also has the legs to go for it. You never win before the race is really over. Now I’m really relieved.”
Meanwhile, Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished with the second fastest time, four seconds down from Küng, while Tom Dumoulin rounded out the podium a second further back.
Opening stage winner Peter Sagan finished 15 seconds behind Küng in the worst of the conditions, causing him to relinquish the green leader’s jersey to his Swiss rival.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:10:58 2 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:05 4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:08 5 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:10 6 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:12 7 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:14 8 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:15 9 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:17 10 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 11 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:18 12 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:19 13 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team UAE Emirates 0:00:20 14 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:00:21 15 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:22 16 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:24 17 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25 18 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 19 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 20 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:26
General Classification After Stage 2
1 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 4:01:07 2 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:05 4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:08 5 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:10 6 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:12 7 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:14 8 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:15 9 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 10 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:17 11 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 12 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:18 13 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:19 14 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team UAE Emirates 0:00:20 15 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:00:21 16 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:22 17 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:24 18 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25 19 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 20 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:26
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