Nat Bromhead
“I thought my power meter was off because it was so high…”
That was one of the first comments made by Tom Dumoulin who’s now the 2017 World Time Trial Champion after beating an all-star rollout in Bergen, Norway overnight.
Dumoulin completed the 31km time trial in 44 minutes and 41 seconds, almost a minute ahead of second placed Primoz Roglic and 1 minute and 21 seconds ahead of Chris Froome.
“I can’t believe it, it’s really amazing,” said a thrilled Dumoulin, the 2017 Giro ‘d Italia winner. “I thought my power meter was off because it was so high. I felt really, really good,” he continued.
“After it started raining I had to take the corners really slow, especially in the first kilometre of the climb with all the twists and turns, every corner my back wheel was slipping because I had my TT tyres on, as I thought it would stay dry.”
No Bike Change Required
With some riders opting for a quick bike change for the final 3.1km climb, Dumoulin remained on his Giant Trinity for the entire course.
“I think I’m one of the guys who can do a really good climb on the TT bike and have no problems handling it,” he said.
“So I think it was the right decision. Doing the double is amazing. Last Sunday it was a bit of a surprise that we won with the team, it was an amazing day. I think today is less surprising – I was one of the favourites, but in some ways that makes it harder.”
Dumoulin’s Individual Time Trial victory elevated Team Sunweb to three world titles this week in Bergen, the team also winning the Men’s & Women’s Team Time Trails.
All eyes will now be on team member and Australia’s lead rider, Michael Matthews, who’s making final preparations for Sunday’s World Championship Road Race.
2017 World Championships – Individual Time Trail
1 – Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) 0:44:41
2 – Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) 0:00:58
3 – Chris Froome (Great Britain) 0:01:21
4 – Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) 0:01:29
5 – Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) 0:01:29
6 – Gianni Moscon (Italy) 0:01:29
7 – Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands) 0:01:34
8 – Rohan Dennis (Australia) 0:01:37
9 – Tony Martin (Germany) 0:01:40
10 – Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) 0:01:43
