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Dumoulin narrowly wins 2018 Tour de France’s final time trial

Thomas will wear yellow into Paris, Froome back on the podium

July 28, 2018
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Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) narrowly edged out Chris Froome (Team Sky) to win Saturday’s penultimate stage of the 2018 Tour de France. The Dutch rider finished just one second ahead of Froome, defending his narrow lead in the GC standings.

The big winner in Saturday’s Individual Time Trial was Geraint Thomas (Team Sky). Crossing the line with the third fastest time of the day, the Welshman has all but sealed his first Tour de France victory. Thomas will ride into Paris in the Malliot Jaune on Sunday.

The Course

The final stage for the overall podium positions was a 31-kilometre race against the clock from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette. The rolling parcours for the final time trial offers little time to settle into a rhythm.  Steep brief climbs, the most punishing topping out over 10% gradient, followed by technical descents will keep even the most experienced time trial specialists on their toes.

The Podium Race

After Friday’s dramatic downhill finish, Prio Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) had moved into third place in the 2018 Tour de France. His daring stage win had pushed Froome off the podium, slotting Roglic into third behind Thomas and Dumoulin. On the start ramp of Saturday’s Time Trial, Roglic held a slim 13 second advantage over the defending Tour de France champion.

Adding to the drama, Tom Dumoulin was just 19 seconds ahead of Roglic. While Thomas appeared safe in yellow, barring any disaster, the remaining podium spots were still up for grabs. All four top riders carry strong pedigree in the race against the clock, with Dumoulin, Roglic and Froom all on the podium at 2017 ITT world championships. Three weeks of racing, though, always adds an unknown element to Time Trial performance.

The Race Against the Clock

Team Sky’s Michal Kwitkowski set the early time to beat, clocking in at 41 minutes 42.39 seconds. While many riders were ahead at the intermediate splits, the Polish rider had proved a master of pacing and was still sitting first at the finish.

Sitting in fourth overall, Froome was the first of the remaining GC challengers to start. At the first checkpoint 13 km in, the defending Tour champion had set the fastest time. Roglic, starting immediately after Froome, already looked to be struggling. By the time he passed the first intermediate split, he was already 30 seconds behind Froome. If he could not gain back some of that time, he would be pushed off the podium into fourth.

Next across was Dumoulin. The time trial world champion looked fast, but was two seconds slower that Froome.

Before he could get to the checkpoing, Thomas made a huge save, averting disaster when his back wheel slid out on a tight, right hand turn early on course. While he started the stage with a strong, two minute advantage, a crash could still prove disastrous.

Still upright, Thomas looked confident despite the near miss and crossed through the first checkpoint with the fastest time of the day.

At the second intermediary split, Froome showed no signs of slowing down. His time through the checkpoint was the days fastest by 22 seconds. This spelled trouble for Roglic, who continued to bleed time to the four-tour winner. Roglic crossed 49 seconds slower than Froome, pushing the Slovenian further into fourth.

Dumoulin, on the other hand, was picking up the pace. The Dutch rider held steady against Sky’s second rider, not losing any time between the first and second split.

Thomas was the last to pass through the second checkpoint. His time was 12 seconds faster than his Sky teammates. The Welsh rider had conceded two seconds on course, but was still looking comfortable on the bike.

Finish line confusion

Chris Froome crossed the finish line with a new fastest time, beating his teammate Kwiatkowski by a full 52 seconds over 31 km. Only three riders remained on course to challenge his time of 40 minutes 53 seconds, a blistering fast average speed of 45.5 km/h.

Behind Froome, Roglic looked exhausted from his previous days efforts. The LottoNL-Jumbo rider had slowed to a crawl on the final, 900 m climb remaining before the finish line. Surely he must have known his podium had disappeared up the road ahead of him. At the finish, he had conceded 1 minute 14 seconds to Froome, and his third position on the podium.

Close behind the Slovenian, Tom Dumoulin was already entering the finishing straight. When the time trial world champion crossed the line, there was some confusion between the race feed and official time. One said Froome had won by two seconds, while the official clock had Dumoulin ahead by a single second.

 

With Froome and Dumoulin both in the hot seat area still, Thomas approached the finish line. Thomas had ridden safely through the final technical descent on course and, after his early close call, was riding to cross the line incident free instead of pushing hard to contest for the stage win.

Thomas finished just outside the times of Froome and Dumoulin, 14 seconds behind the stage winner. The Welsh rider was ecstatic, though, as the result sealed his position on the top step of the podium going into the 2018 Tour de France”s final day.

Official word arrived that Tom Dumoulin had indeed won the stage, and the Dutch rider tentatively celebrated. Froome congratulated his rival on the win, Dumoulin’s third Tour de France stage win but his first in this year’s edition.

The final stage of the 2018 Tour de France is Sunday, the traditional sprint on the Champs d’Elysees in Paris

2018 Tour de France Stage 19
1) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Sunweb
2) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) +0:01
3) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Sky) +0:14

2018 Tour de France GC
1) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Sky) 80:30:37
2) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Sunweb) +1:51
3) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) +2:24
4) Primoz Roglic (Slovenia/LottoNL-Jumbo) +3:22
5) Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) +6:08