To the delight of the home crowd Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) won the first maglia rosa of the Giro d’Italia after beating Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) by the finest of margins on stage 1. Dumoulin came over the line just 0.01 seconds quicker than the Slovenian to take Giant-Alpecin’s first victory of the season. Andrey Amador (Movistar) put in an impressive performance to round out the top three.
Ahead of the opening time trial in Dumoulin had tried to deflect the pressure onto another pre-stage favourite, Fabian Cancellara. The Dutchman hadn’t won a time trial this season until this point, being beaten by less than a second in Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie. As Dumoulin approached the line, it looked like he might just miss out for the third time this season but edged out surprise packagae Roglic.
Just as Dumoulin finished, Cancellara set off for his effort and it would be a tense 11-minute wait before the Swiss rider posted his time. The Netherland’s King Willem-Alexander, who had been hovering behind Dumoulin as he warmed down, was the first to congratulate him.
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“I’m feeling sick in my stomach now but at the same time I’m so happy. I did it and the luck was on my side today. The luck that I didn’t have in Romandie paid back here in the Netherlands and it’s very special,” Dumoulin said immediately after the finish.
“I didn’t do my best TT but I also didn’t do my worst. I didn’t really do a mistake, but I would have liked to have been a bit starter but in the end the result is all that counts and I did it.”
Roglic was the surprise of the afternoon as he knocked Dumoulin’s teammate Tobias Ludvigsson off the top spot. Riding his first Grand Tour after switching from ski jumping to cycling, Roglic wouldn’t have expected to be so high up but there was still a wry smile from the 26-year-old when he saw his time beaten by Dumoulin.
Stage 1 Video Highlights
How it unfolded
The overall contenders
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