Today’s time trial from Bourg Saint Andeol to La Caverne du Pont d’Arc was won by Tom Dumoulin in 50’15”.
Here’s what he had to say today:
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
“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.”
Tom Dumoulin
He was followed by Chris Froome in second place who was 1’03” behind.
Tejay Vangarderen is now in 6th place overall and Richie Porte is in eighth place at 4’27” behind Froome.
Tejay Vangarderen
Richie Porte
Because of the killings in Nice yesterday there was a moment of silence on the victory podium and no official ceremony. The leaders, Sagan, Froome, Dumoulin, and Yates stood quietly for the minute and then left the stage.
Tour de France Time Trial Shakes Up General Classification
15 July, 2016, La Caverne Du Pont-D’Arc (FRA)
The first time trial of the Tour de France saw Rohan Dennis finish in fifth place and Tejay van Garderen and Richie Porte both move into the top ten on the General Classification after finishing 16th and 21st respectively.
The already technical 37.5 kilometer course was made even more difficult by strong winds that played a big role in determining finish times.
Dennis set the provisional best time early in the day and was in the hot seat, before being overtaken by a handful of riders including eventual winner Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant Alpecin).
Van Garderen and Porte were some of the last riders to leave the start ramp, finishing 2’50” and 3’08” back from Dumoulin.
The General Classification standings going into stage 14 see van Garderen sitting in sixth place, 3’19” back from race leader Chris Froome (Team SKY), and Porte 4’27” behind.
Quotes from the Finish Line
Rohan Dennis:
“After 3 or 4 kilometers I almost called it quits. I thought that today was not my bad so I’ll just drop the power a little bit and get over the climb and try to settle in. I felt a lot better in the second half. I might be the fastest now but a lot of the guys before me were taking today as more of a rest day. I think it was a pretty challenging course a d mid-way through a Grand Tour makes it even harder as well. We’ll have to see how the GC guys go. Generally at a Grand Tour the time trial specialists aren’t always the favorite. If there was less wind then I would say that the GC guys would be really strong today but generally the GC guys are a bit smaller and even myself being a little heavier than the climbers, I was still getting pushed around a bit.”
Richie Porte:
“It was such a hard time trial. You couldn’t really hear anything on the radio so I was just riding off feel. It was so windy out there, I’m not really sure of my times or anything. I wasn’t really happy with my sensations, it hurt a lot. Yesterday with the motorbike doesn’t really help much either. We’ll see how the other GC guys fare; I think that the battle was never against the big time trialists. There’s still a few guys to come in so we’ll see how it was from that. I’m a little bit sore from yesterday. It’s quite disappointing to be honest. But I’m sure the race is not over yet.”
Tejay van Garderen:
“My time trial was about average. It wasn’t one of the best ones I’ve ever had but the Tour de France is about consistency so I’ll just keep chipping away. Hopefully throughout the third week if I can move up a couple of more places then we’ll be sitting in a good place in Paris.”
Race Profile
Tour de France
Stage 13 Bourg-Saint-Andeol ‘ La Caverne Du Pont-D’Arc (37.5k)
Top 3: Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant Alpecin), Chris Froome (Team SKY), Nelson Oliviera (Movistar Team)
BMC Racing Team Top 3: 5. Rohan Dennis, 16. Tejay van Garderen, 21. Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team Top 3 on GC: 6. Tejay van Garderen, 8. Richie Porte, 19. Damiano Caruso
