Abu Dhabi: Mechanical downs Dumoulin as Dennis dons leader’s jersey

An unresolved mechanical all but destroyed reigning world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin’s chances of a penultimate stage win against the clock at the Abu Dhabi Tour on Saturday.

Clad in his new rainbow-striped Team Sunweb skinsuit, the 27-year-old Dutchman, who had set sights on the time trial stage in December, said a problem with his gear shifters proved to be his undoing, not his form, with a 12th-place finish 31 seconds adrift of stage winner Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing).

“I did the recon before and then my rear derailleur went into crash mode,” explained the 2017 Giro d’Italia winner. “That means that it can’t shift anymore in the back. The mechanics put the bike upside down and put a new rear derailleur on it. So we made a decision to ride it, my world champion bike in the time trial.

“But then it happened again in the switchback,” he said referring to the turnaround of the 12.6-kilometre course on Al Maryah Island. “Apparently it was a problem with the shifter, not the derailleur, or with the electronics inside, I don’t know.

“Anyway, I needed to change bikes and it really sucked. I had the fastest time at the intermediate. I felt really good.

“I’m always a slow starter, so I really had something left. After that, it was petty much done.”

While Dumoulin was battling bike issues, the reigning three-time Australian champion and former ‘Hour Record’ holder was sitting in the hot seat after recording the day’s fastest time of 14 minutes 21 seconds — 14 seconds better than Spanish runner-up Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky) and 16 over countryman and BMC teammate Miles Scotson, who assumed the white jersey for best young rider.

According to the Giro-bound 27-year-old, the distance did not play into his strength. Although it was not the length, but rather the conditions that gave him the most trouble en route to victory.

“You think we should average faster than 52 (km/h), but that wind out there was nuts,” said the newlywed, who admitted to Eurosport it was a good day to win as it is his new bride and retired Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins’s birthday today.

“It was gusty, it never felt like a tailwind,” Dennis continued. “It was a hard one to pace. That’s what stressed me out the most, the fact that it wasn’t so straight forward.

“In the end I just had to play it by ear and go out there and do what I had to do.”

When asked about Dumoulin’s dilemma, Dennis said that while he feels for his general classification rival, he still believes he would have taken the stage regardless of the mechanical.

“I’ve had my fair share of those sort of issues,” he explained. “It’s never nice to lose a race because of that. I still believe I still would have won today.

“He was 31 seconds in the finish and a bike change we usually say is 30 and if he was one-second up he lost 32 seconds to me, or 2 seconds behind. I’m not going to say I’m unhappy, but it is a shame that obviously someone loses because of that.”

With the win, the former Tour Down Under and USA Pro Challenge winner moves into the overall lead and lifts the red leader’s jersey off Stage 2 winner Elia Viviani, who maintains his top standing on points.

Dennis will take his 14-second advantage into Sunday’s queen stage is the longest stage (199km) of the five-day WorldTour race with a hilltop finish atop Jebel Hafeet, featuring 10.8km ascent with an average gradient of 6.6 percent and a max of 11.

However the Adelaide native says taking the jersey home is paramount.

“It’s pretty important — it’s WorldTour — so the team really puts a lot of pressure on the fact that we need to get a result here,” admitted Dennis. “I want to keep this jersey. It’s always good to win a WorldTour, whether or not it’s Europe, Australia, UAE, Abu Dhabi, Asia, it really doesn’t matter.

“It will be great to keep this jersey and there is a lot of pressure,” he concluded. “We will defend it as well as we possibly can.”

As for Dumoulin’s GC hopes, at 31 seconds behind (ninth overall), he said he will continue to race despite the odds.

“I don’t know where I stand on the GC now,” said Dumoulin, who . “There are some GC leaders definitely in front of me, and all of them are close, and it will be very hard to make a real big difference on the climb.

“Anyway, I’m here and I’m going to give my best tomorrow and we’ll see.”

For full stage and race results, click here.