photo credits @ RCS
Defending champion Tom Dumoulin claimed an emphatic victory during the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia today, after winning the individual time trial.
Indeed, the Dutch rider stormed to victory after clocking the fastest time of 12:02 along the 9.7 kilometer course through the streets of Jerusalem to stamp his authority in the Fight for Pink.
“I knew I felt good in the last days, but we still had to see in the race how it is. This is all I wished for – the win and a lot of time on the other GC riders, so it’s the perfect start for me,” Dumoulin said.
“The course was perfect for me – very technical, and I’m good on corners on the TT bike. It was full gas, recover, full gas, recover, so it was perfect for me.”
Meanwhile, Rohan Dennis finished in second place after being edged out by Dumoulin by two seconds, while Victor Campenaerts (Lotto – Soudal) rounded out the podium in third spot – a few hundredth’s of a second behind his Australian rival.
Race hopeful Chris Froome (Team Sky) put in a less than stellar performance today, who finished the stage almost 40 seconds down on Dumoulin.
A crash mid-point in the stage didn’t help the British rider either, who went down while trying to negotiate a tight curve.
1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb, in 12-02 2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team, at 2s 3 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at st 4 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin, at 12s 5 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin, at 16s 6 Pello Bilbao (Esp) Astana Pro Team, at 18s 7 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 20s 8 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors, at 21s 9 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin, at 27s 10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 27s
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