Tom Dumoulin wins Dutch National Time Trial Championships
Tom Dumoulin has won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships, taking the second red, white and blue national stripes of his career.
Dumoulin started at the National Championships after spending nearly three weeks at the team’s altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada. He raced around the 50km time trial in a time of 59’05” finishing 34″ ahead of his nearest rival.
Tom Dumoulin said: “I am really happy with this performance as everything went perfectly during the time trial. It is great to be the Dutch national champion as it was my best ride ever during the Nationals. After a long period without racing, you are never sure how it is going to go and how you will perform.
“However, I prepared well and generally if I feel good in training then I know it’s going to be okay during the race. It is a really nice feeling to have won the red, white and blue jersey. It is a great honour to have won it in such a great event.”
Adriaan Helmantel added: “It feels good to take the victory. When you come here with one goal and even though it is not easy, it is very satisfying. From the beginning, I could see that Tom could push the watts. He had a good stable pace and at the intermediate time we already knew that he had a good advantage over his competition and he was able to maintain this until the finish.
“He looked very good, he was focused and it is great to see that he is capable of winning after being at the high altitude training camp. Now he has a good level and this will be a further incentive for the Tour de France and later on in Rio.
“To become Dutch national champion you need to be 100% and especially with those strong opponents. Today he showed a steady performance proving he is at at the top of his game.”
