Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) earned his second time trial victory of the season in the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse in Rotkreuz, Switzerland. The reigning Dutch national time trial champion covered the 5.1km course with a time of 5:41. Riding on home soil, former overall race winner Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) took second place on the stage, two seconds behind. Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) was third, four seconds behind of Dumoulin. Four-time Tour de Suisse points classification winner Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) was fourth, a further second back.
With the win in the opening stage, Dumoulin earned himself the Tour de Suisse GC lead, with eight more days of racing ahead. Geraint Thomas (Sky), who will have his eye on that top spot on the overall leaderboard, finished 10th in the time trial, seven seconds behind Dumoulin. Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick-Step), among the favorites for the opening stage victory thanks to his typically strong time trialing ability, was a disappointing 21 seconds slower than the stage winner.
“I am very happy with this victory,” said Dumoulin after the win. “After returning from the team’s altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada, it is always a question as to how the legs will perform but it is a great feeling that it turned out to be excellent.
“During the prologue I didn’t feel great but apparently it went pretty fast and it was enough for the win.
“I went full gas uphill and used my aerodynamics in the downhill section.
“Now I have the yellow leader’s jersey and together with the strong team that we have here, we will see and try to keep it as long as possible obviously.”
The race continues Sunday with a challenging 161.1km stage 2, also in the Risch-Rotkreuz municipality of Switzerland.
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