Tom Dumoulin (NED) raced to victory in the time trial of the 2016 Tour de France, taking his second win of the Tour after his victory on stage 9 to Andorra.
Stage 13 of the Tour de France was an individual time trial of 37.5km from Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc. Dumoulin was the fastest on the tough parcours, with a time of 50’15” and an average pace of around 44.7km/h.
Thinking of Nice
“It’s a day of two halves. I’m very happy with the win but my thoughts go out to everyone affected by the horrific attack in Nice. This morning we woke up to the terrible news and I had to get into my zone and focus on the time trial. It is terrible what happened today and it shadows the day a lot. I think we cannot let terrorists decide our lives in our society.
“During the recon which I did behind John [Degenkolb] in the team car I noticed there were a couple of tricky moments with the cross winds so I was well prepared and aware of it. Therefore we decided to race with a normal front wheel.
“Throughout the course anyway the wind was very dangerous and very hard to cope with. In the final run in there was one dangerous moment where I almost went off the road.
“Overall it was a very good time trial and it shows that I am in good shape at the moment. During the last two days I was not feeling so well, but today I had good legs. I was able to enjoy the ride today and I was able to concentrate on my performance. I know I can pick my days during the Tour and go for a good result, and today’s victory gives me a lot of confidence.”
Froome Extends Lead
Race leader Chris Froome put in an emphatic performance in the time trial to come home second and significantly extend his race lead on a sombre day at the Tour de France.
Clocking a time of 51 minutes and 18 seconds over an undulating and blustery course, Froome put significant time into all his major general classification rivals, but after crossing the line he admitted his thoughts were with those affected by Thursday night’s tragic attack in Nice.
Before heading to a respectful podium ceremony he said: “This is definitely a time for people to stand together. It puts things into perspective for us here at the race.
“I’m happy with how it went on the bike, but the atmosphere here, and everyone’s thoughts here are with those affected down in Nice. It’s a special place for me, near to where I’m based, and I just can’t imagine what those people are going through down there.”
The Team Sky rider was able to put 2:05 into Nairo Quintana (Movistar), and 1:58 into Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange). Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) went sixth quickest to jump up to second overall, while Geraint Thomas put in a strong ride to take seventh on the day.
Strong Effort From Yates
Briton Adam Yates produced a fantastic ride for ORICA-BikeExchange, moving into third place on the general classification and retaining the lead of the best young rider category.
Yates finished three minutes down on the stage winner after brilliantly overcoming the challenging course in what is not the ORICA-BikeExchange rider’s favourite pursuit.
Extending his lead in the best young riders classification and moving into third place overall behind race leader Froome and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) now in second, Yates is 58 seconds behind the Trek rider going into tomorrow’s stage 14.
“The time trial is not my speciality and I think out of everyone here I’m probably one of the weakest,” said Yates at the finish. “I gave it my absolute maximum out there and I think I did an ok job to finish with the time I got, I did my best so that’s all I can do.”
“This is all part of a great experience because I haven’t been in this position before so we keep approaching the race day by day and I’m learning something new everyday.
“Myself and the team will keep on trying our best for the rest of the race and now we all need to recover before tomorrow’s stage.”
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