Dumoulin puts brave face on time loss at Giro d'Italia
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) launched his bid for a second victory at the Giro d'Italia with fifth place on the short but brutal time trial in Bologna. The Dutchman, looking to repeat his 2017 success over the next three weeks, finished 28 seconds behind stage winner Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma).
The Dutchman was the first rider off the ramp at this year's race – one of the many GC contenders who set off early in order to avoid the threat of thunderstorms, which were forecast late on, but never came. Such was his effort on the climb to the Madonna di San Luca church that he struggled to ride onwards to the team area.
Dumoulin brushed aside television crews to complete two warm-down laps of the car park before stopping to speak to the assembled press.
"I was completely on my limit. I paced myself pretty well," he told reporters.
“I don’t know what it's worth against the others, but it was a solid ride, I think," he added, seemingly positive, but with a sense that he wasn't totally happy with how his ride went.
When all was said and done, Dumoulin ended up fifth on the leaderboard, behind Roglič, Simon Yates, Vincenzo Nibali, and, surprisingly, Miguel Ángel López. At the first checkpoint, he was 15th, 11 seconds down on Roglič, while the 2.1km climb, which averaged a stinging 9.7 per cent, saw him go sixth-fastest, shedding a further 17 seconds to the stage winner.
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