Tour of Alberta 2014 prologue: Tom Dumoulin triumphant, Zach Bell top Canadian
Romanian Sergei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly), who came runner up to Swiss rider Silvan Dillier in last year’s second stage, had the second fastest time with 6:13.66, and recent Tour of Utah winner Tom Danielson (USA/Garmin-Sharp) placed third and will wear the King of the Mountains jersey on Wednesday.
The riders faced 2.5-km of relative flat and two rollers before the steep 2-km hill, ascending alongside the Canada Olympic Park’s bobsled run. The better early times were around 6:30 minutes, with Georg Preidler (Austria/Giant-Shimano), Joseph Schmalz (USA/Hincapie Development) and Orica-GreenEdge Dutchman Pieter Weening all taking the lead.
But prologue favourite Dumoulin was in a class by himself – the only rider to break the six minute mark. At yesterday’s press conference, Dumoulin expressed confidence in himself and his team: “It is a good course for me. I normally do flat to steep well so I plan to do well in the prologue. Our team is very strong.”
Last year’s top Canadian Ryan Anderson (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) started around halfway down the order and stopped the clock at 6:22.77. Rob Britton (Team SmartStop) was only a half-second slower.
Go @OPTUMpbKBS @ryananderson33 pic.twitter.com/0YvkVIAozP
— Tour of Alberta (@TourOfAlberta) September 3, 2014
But it was Britton’s teammate Zach Bell who would set the Canadian marker at 6:21.87. Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) and Ryan Roth (Silber Pro Cycling) also eclipsed Anderson and Britton. Bell, Meier and Roth filled out the last three spots of the top ten.
After the stage Bell told the press, “You have to pace out to leave a little for the climb so when you dig deep and still have it – you know you did the climb right.”
Wednesday’s 143-km stage is six laps of a circuit around Lethbridge, with a 15% climb up Stafford Drive and more climbing in the final 5.5-km approach to the line.
2014 Tour of Alberta Prologue
1) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant Shimano) 5:59:70
2) Sergei Tvetcov (Romania/Jelly Belly) +13.96
3) Tom Danielson (USA/Garmin-Sharp) +0:17
8) Zach Bell (Canada/Team SmartStop) +22.17
