Tom Dumoulin wins Tour de Suisse opener, Geraint Thomas 10th

Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) won the opening time-trial stage of 2015 Tour de Suisse on Saturday.

The young Dutch rider has impressed with his efforts against the clock over the past year or so, earning bronze at last year’s world championships and winning the time-trial stage at the Tour of the Basque Country this season, and today he demonstrated his aptitude for shorter distances.

He completed the 5.1km course in 5 minutes and 41 seconds, beating previous leader Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) by a substantial two seconds.

>>> Tour de Suisse 2015 preview

For Cancellara, the ride still stands as a successful return to racing following several months out. His participation in the race remained a doubt right up until yesterday, but he appears to have fully recovered from the throat infection.

Former Hour Record holder Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) was third and spent most of the day on hot seat, and magnanimously applauded upon seeing the Cancellara put two seconds into his time.

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) was one of the last off and posted the fourth best time, just ahead of Steve Morabito (FDJ) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).

One of the most dramatic incidents of the day was a crash from Silvan Dillier (BMC). Despite falling hard, though, he managed to get back on his bike and make it to the finish, much to the crowd’s admiration.

>>> Tour de Suisse 2015: Who will win?

One of the pre-race favourites for the stage was Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Sky), and he put in a reasonable time to finished 10th at seven seconds.

Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) made it to the finish in one piece on his first day’s racing since the horrific crash at the Giro, as did Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step), who will have his eye on the sprint stages later in the race.

Dumoulin will wear the leader’s yellow jersey in tomorrow’s lumpy opening road stage.

Results

Tour de Suisse 2015, stage one: Risch-Rotkreuz to Risch-Rotkreuz, 5.1km, ITT

1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin in 05-41

2. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) at 2 secs

3. Matthias Brandle (Swi) IAM Cycling at 4 secs

4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 5 secs

5. Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ at st

6. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC at st

7. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at 6 secs

8. Jon Izagirre (Spa) Movistar at st

9. Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar at st

10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky at 7 secs

Overall classification after stage one

1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin in 05-41

2. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) at 2 secs

3. Matthias Brandle (Swi) IAM Cycling at 4 secs

4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 5 secs

5. Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ at st

6. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC at st

7. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at 6 secs

8. Jon Izagirre (Spa) Movistar at st

9. Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar at st

10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky at 7 secs

Video: Secrets of the toolbox - Giant-Alpecin