One of the top favourites to capture the win in the opening 13.8km-long time trial in Utrecht on Saturday afternoon is 30-year-old German rider Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep). The triple time trial world champion hopes to shake off his previous Tour de France prologue problems and finally capture the yellow jersey.
"I ride for yellow and not for the stage win. For sure it's bigger than any other time trial in the middle of the race. It's a really big opportunity for me. [...] I hope I will not beat myself," Martin said.
Back in 2012 his hopes for yellow were dashed when he was confronted with mechanical problems that forced him to switch bikes during the prologue of the Tour de France in Liège, Belgium. Martin hoped bad luck or weather conditions wouldn't be playing a role tomorrow.
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"I don't like the heat but for 14 kilometres it should be no problem. The most important thing is that all riders have the same conditions, that it doesn't start to rain halfway," he said.
Tony Martin starts his time trial at 16:44, with other specialists like Adriano Malori (Movistar) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek) starting later. The home crowd would love to see a home win from Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). People are walking around town with shirts, donning "I'm a Dumoulist." The Dutchman starts his ride at 16:25.
"Everybody talks about me and Tom but there are more riders to look at, like Cancellara. The last few times he [Dumoulin] came closest. I'm confident I can beat him again," he added.
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