2015 Tour de France Stage 1: Rohan Dennis wins short time trial, wears first yellow
Rohan Dennis (Australia/BMC) was on the hot seat of the 2015 Tour de France's opening time trial for most of Saturday, holding off challenges from Tom Dumoulin, Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara to take the victory in Utrecht, Netherlands.
Rohan Dennis (Australia/BMC) was on the hot seat of the 2015 Tour de France’s opening time trial for most of Saturday, holding off challenges from Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin), Tony Martin (Germany/Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland/Trek) to take the victory in Utrecht, Netherlands. By taking the initial lead in the sweltering heat, Dennis makes it five out of the last eight editions of the Tour with an Australian in yellow.
Dennis posted the fastest ever Tour de France time trial average speed at 55.446-km/h over 13.8-km flat Dutch roads. His early time of 14:56 eclipsed Jos van Emden (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) even though van Emden had set the fastest intermediate time.
Canadian Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) rolled the course 45-seconds slower, and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) was 1:15 in arrears.
Stage favourite Tom Dumoulin owned the third fastest time at the intermediate check and drove through the roars of the Dutch crowds, but by the red kite it was clear that he would come up short. Suffering in the heat, Martin came very close to bumping the Australian off the hot seat, finishing 5.62-seconds slower. Cancellara, third on the day, described himself after the finish as an “old lion.”
Among the Fab Four, last year’s champion Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana) set the best time at 15:39, with the worst time Nairo Quintana’s 15:57. Among all the GC contenders Wilco Kelderman was the best, only 30-seconds slower than Dennis, while Romain Bardet had a bad day finishing 1:34 down.
Sunday’s stage, again in the Netherlands, is pancake flat and looks to be one for the sprinters, but crosswinds could create problems and opportunities.
2015 Tour de France Stage 1 and GC
1) Rohan Dennis (Australia/BMC) 14:56
2) Tony Martin (Germany/Etixx-QuickStep) +0:05
3) Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland/Trek) +0:06
25) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +0:45
87) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Cannondale-Garmin) +1:15
