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Tom Dumoulin dominates World Championship time trial, Chris Froome takes bronze

Dutch rider follows up May's Giro d'Italia win by taking the rainbow jersey in Bergen...

Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands put in a dominant performance at the UCI Road World Championships to win the elite men's time trial today, with Primoz Roglic of Slevenia second and Great Britain's Chris Froome third.

Dumoulin was the penultimate rider out on the course, immediately after Froome, and from the start began taking time out of the British rider, who had been aiming to follow up his Tour de France and Vuelta victories by taking his first rainbow jersey .

The Dutchman, winner of the Giro d’Italia in May and favourite for today’s race, had a 34-second advantage over Froome at the third time check, which came after 16.1 kilometres, by which time heavy rain was falling on the course.

Similarly off the pace was four-time world champion Tony Martin of Germany, seeking to retain the title he had won most recently in Doha last year.

Just ahead of the closing climb, the 3.4-kilometre Mount Floyen which began with a series of tight hairpin bends, many of the riders who were out on the course early decided to switch from their time trial bike to a road bike.

It was a risky strategy – anything other than a perfect jump onto the bike and instant clip-in as the mechanic pushed the rider off would negate any potential advantage to be gained – and one that most of the favourites chose not to pursue.

Froome hit the bottom of that climb ceding around 50 seconds to Dumoulin, as did Martin, with the second fastest man at that point another former world champion, Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus.

As Froome and Dumoulin tackled the final climb, Roglic set a new quickest time.

The Briton had seemed set to overhaul Roglic to move into the lead, but lost time to him towards the top of the descent and crossed the line with Dumoulin, who had started 90 seconds behind him, on his heels has he took the rainbow jersey.

Martin tried valiantly to close the gap and get onto the podium, but finished in ninth place. 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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13 comments

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RobD | 6 years ago
1 like

That was a pretty awesome ride, I would have been surprised if anyone else would have won it though, Tom D looked in great form, and with his improved climbing over the past couple of years and his continued TT'ing ability it was definitely his for the taking, and he planned his year well, able to pick shorter races and not have to bury himself in the tour or vuelta really seemed to help.

It would have been interesting to see if Froome in his start of the Vuelta form would have been able to beat him, I think it would have been a lot closer but I still think Dumoulin would have won it.

I'd like to see him race the tour against Froome if it was a fairly balanced route, he's someone Froome would be forced to put time into in the mountains because he'd know he wouldn't be taking anything significant/would lose time in the TT.

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CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
0 likes

Great race, very entertaining. Bike change was hilarious, with such a variety of techniques, lazy stroll to F1 pit stops. The pushing which the Marshall tried to limit became a giggle.

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kil0ran | 6 years ago
0 likes

Didn't think that climb would suit Froome based on stages where he lost time on Le Tour & La Vuelta. I'm guessing Yorkshire will be busy plotting something that will suit him for 2019.

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waldner71 | 6 years ago
3 likes

It will be great to see Froome vs Dumoulin go head to head  in a Grand Tour, hopefully the TDF next year. Dumoulin could well be the natural successor to Froome who did well to get on the podium after his double Grand Tour winning season. If both of them were in top form in the TT Dumoulin would probably still have edged it. 

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check12 | 6 years ago
2 likes

He's had his feet up since the giro, would have been more of a shock if someone else won! 

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MartyMcCann replied to check12 | 6 years ago
2 likes

check12 wrote:

He's had his feet up since the giro, would have been more of a shock if someone else won! 

 

What? Dumoulin raced the Tour de Suisse, San Sebastian, Montreal and Qubec and won the BinkBank (formerly known as the Eneco) Tour- hardly sitting with his feet up.

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check12 replied to MartyMcCann | 6 years ago
0 likes

MartyMcCann wrote:

check12 wrote:

He's had his feet up since the giro, would have been more of a shock if someone else won! 

 

What? Dumoulin raced the Tour de Suisse, San Sebastian, Montreal and Qubec and won the BinkBank (formerly known as the Eneco) Tour- hardly sitting with his feet up.

 

Compared to the guy who came second?

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RTB replied to MartyMcCann | 6 years ago
1 like

MartyMcCann wrote:

check12 wrote:

He's had his feet up since the giro, would have been more of a shock if someone else won! 

 

What? Dumoulin raced the Tour de Suisse, San Sebastian, Montreal and Qubec and won the BinkBank (formerly known as the Eneco) Tour- hardly sitting with his feet up.

 

But not busting his gut/legs/brain doing, let alone winning, two 3-week grand tours in the preceeding two months either.  Huge difference.  Dumoulin deserved it, he had it as a top objective, focused on it and executed brilliantly.  Well done to him and well done to Froome too.  Great year for both of them.

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HalfWheeler | 6 years ago
3 likes

There's next year's TDF winner.

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Grahamd | 6 years ago
1 like

Amazing the time he had over the rest of the field, even more amazing was the live coverage on BBC!

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dottigirl replied to Grahamd | 6 years ago
1 like

Grahamd wrote:

Amazing the time he had over the rest of the field, even more amazing was the live coverage on BBC!

Boardman and Gilmore were great with the technical discussion - some really interesting points. 

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jollygoodvelo replied to dottigirl | 6 years ago
0 likes

dottigirl wrote:

Grahamd wrote:

Amazing the time he had over the rest of the field, even more amazing was the live coverage on BBC!

Boardman and Gilmore were great with the technical discussion - some really interesting points. 

Would have been nice if they'd even slightly publicised that it was going to be covered though!

Avatar
Beecho | 6 years ago
2 likes

Shit me, he destroyed that course. That climb looked an absolute bitch. Great watching. In the office, of course!

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