Dumoulin dominates in Calgary

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Giant-Shimano's Tom Dumoulin won the opening prologue time trial at the Tour of Alberta on Tuesday evening in Calgary and will wear the gold leader's jersey during Wednesday's first stage.

Dumoulin covered the 4km course in 5:59, 14 seconds faster than runner-up Serghei Tvectov (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and 17 seconds faster than third-placed Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp). The 23-year-old Dutch national time trial champion started just 26 riders into the 118-rider field and had to wait some 90 minutes to find out he had won.

“It was getting colder and colder up there,” Dumoulin said. “But I'm really happy of course. It was a good decision to start early. We arrived here from Europe, and with the jet lag I thought it would be better to start early, and then I had to wait one-and-a-half hours, but it was worth it.”

Cannondale's Davide Villella finished fourth, 18 seconds down, followed by UnitedHealthcare's Danny Summerhill, also 18 seconds down. Another 16 riders are stacked within 30 seconds of the race leader.

Bike selection proves to be decisive

The prologue course at the Canada Olympic Park featured 2.5km of flat road with several technical turns before it turned upward and climbed more than 100 meters over the final 1.5km. Most riders chose to use their road bikes with clip-on bars for the opening test, although Dumoulin opted for his time trial machine and all the aero accoutrements.

“For me, I'm pretty comfortable on the time trial bike of course, and I also did the climb actually in the bars,” Dumoulin said. “If you have a problem putting out the same power on the time trial bike as on the road bike, then you should better choose the road bike on a parcour like this. But I don't have that problem, and the time trial bike is faster, so you can make up time on the flat and don't lose too much on the hill.”

The Giant-Shimano rider, who won the time trial last month at the Eneco Tour and was second in the Tour de France time trial in July, started early in the day and set the fastest mark with just 25 riders starting before him. His teammate Simon Geschke was able to climb within 22 seconds of Dumoulin, but the mark continued to hold as rider after rider finished beneath the ski jump and bobsled platforms.

Orica-GreenEdge's Daryl Impey, in his first race back since being exonerated of a positive test for the banned diuretic Probenecid, was the next rider to challenge Dumoulin's mark, but the South African also fell 22 seconds short. Cannondale's Davide Villella, starting 69th, came in with a solid time but was 17 seconds shy of Dumoulin's time.

Danielson on the podium

Garmin-Sharp's Phil Gaimon placed within 18 seconds of Dumoulin, as did UnitedHealthcare's Danny Summerhill, but Dumoulin continued his reign on the hot seat as the final 10 riders took the start. Tvetcov, who also chose a time trial bike, was the first rider from the final 10 to challenge Dumoulin's time, but the former Moldovan national time trial champion finished 14 seconds slower and slotted into second place.

“After the press conference yesterday I rode [the course] first on the time trial bike, and I questioned from yesterday until today which bike I would ride,” Tvetcov said. “So at the last minute I decided to just go with the time trial bike because I realized that was not going to be a big advantage to use the normal bike. It was a pretty hard course, and my lungs still hurt.”

With only Danielson, who started the last of 118 riders, still on course, Dumoulin's win looked assured. The Garmin rider, who also chose a time trial machine, finished 17 seconds down to take the final podium spot.

The Tour of Alberta continues on Wednesday with a 143km circuit race around Lethbridge. The peloton will face six hilly laps that include the Stafford Drive climb and its 15 percent grade. Then the riders will have more climbing over the next 5.5km to the finish.

Dumoulin is now firmly established as the Giant-Shimano team leader in Alberta, and he said the squad is ready to defend his lead.

“It was of course a question who would be up there after the prologue, and I'm up there now,” Dumoulin said. “We'll do everything with the team to get this jersey home. The gaps were bigger than I thought, so that will be nice for the next couple of days. We're pretty confident, and we'll work hard for the jersey.”

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