Tom Dumoulin downplays time trial advantage at Giro d'Italia
21 May 2018 08:37
If Tom Dumoulin has something akin to home court advantage when the Giro d'Italia resumes with the Rovereto time trial on Tuesday, then the rainbow-festooned time trial bike perched next to him during his rest day press conference had the feel of a championship banner hanging from the rafters. Based on that lofty reputation alone, Dumoulin might expect to recoup his 2:11 deficit to Simon Yates in the general classification during the 34km test from Trento to Rovereto, but after reconnoitring the course on Monday, the Dutchman struck a cautious note about the likelihood of making such gains on stage 16. "I don't think so, because it's super fast, and if you go in a TT position with the tailwind we had today in the recon, then even if you do only 300 Watts, you are going at 50kph, and eventually there is a limit to how much faster you can go," Dumoulin said. "The time differences will not be very big I guess, but it depends a bit on the wind. If the wind is like today I think the differences will be small, and he would have to do a bad TT to lose his jersey to me."ADVERTISEMENT The prevailing conditions in this Giro are not as favourable to Dumoulin as they were a year ago when he seized the pink jersey with a crushing victory in the Montefalco time trial in week two and then secured his overall win in the concluding test in Milan. Stage 16 is the only time trial left in this year's race – Dumoulin won the short opener in Israel – while Yates, already winner of three stages, will surely relish the trio of tough Alpine days in the final week. On Tuesday afternoon, every last pedal stroke counts for Dumoulin along Strada Provinciale 90. "I like any time trial, but I've seen nicer courses for me personally," Dumoulin said. "This one is straightforward, along the highway, fast. There are a few corners especially at the end, it goes slightly up and down but not a lot, it's mostly pushing power in a straight line." Chasing Yates
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