It was a tale of two time trials for the young French favourites. The opening day of the Tour de France in Utrecht could hardly have gone any better for Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), who sprung something of a surprise by posting a quicker time than all of the other overall contenders, as he placed 18th on the stage, just 41 seconds down on winner Rohan Dennis (BMC).
For Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), however, the test went more or less in line with his expectations. To put it mildly, he will be mightily relieved that he does not have to face another individual time trial in this Tour, having finished 145th in this one, some 1:34 down.
Having finished third overall in the Tour de France in Paris a year ago, convention said that Pinot ought to have been the third-last man down the start ramp on Saturday afternoon. Instead, however, he left that honour to his teammate Arnaud Démare and instead opted to set out earlier than almost every other general classification contender.
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“I like to do the time trial as quickly as possible after the morning training ride,” Pinot explained. “That allows me to get back to the hotel and recover sooner than the others. It’s a long build-up to the race in the hotel, you just want to get out there and ride, so it was good to go early.”
It proved a sound decision. Of the other overall contenders, only Nairo Quintana (Movistar) had gone out sooner, citing concerns about the potential for windier conditions in the late afternoon, and when Pinot crossed the line, he was told that he had gained 20 seconds on the Colombian.
“Tomorrow, everybody could lose two minutes. When you’re thinking about Paris, 20 seconds is nothing,” Pinot said. “It was the kind of time trial that I liked, mainly on straight roads, so you could build up speed and then hold it. I wanted to reassure myself and I’m in line with the time I had in mind, it’s good.”
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