Van der Poel defended a small lead on many attackers in advance, which he beat in the first stage on Friday. His lead over Yates and Dumoulin was fourteen seconds at the start. He had to defend it over a distance of 9.2 kilometers, of which the last one and a half were steeply uphill.
Early starters
It was Alex Dowsett who set a decent target time early on. The six-time British time trial champion was just a bit faster than his teammates Alessandro De Marchi and Lawson Craddock, who were both within two tenths of a second. It was Jos van Emden who drove Dowsett out of the hot seat, but a few minutes later another Jumbo-Visma rider, home rider Eduardo Affini, was much faster again. That did not come as a surprise to Van Emden. “I have no illusions,” he said to after the “intense time trial”. Eurosport barely a minute before the Italian knocked him off the throne.
Van Emden was not the only Dutchman who drove well. Later in the field, Thymen Arensman came very close to the – at that time – fastest time. He stranded within half a beat of Lennard Kämna, who had improved Affini’s time. Koen Bouwman also put in a good time trial on the road, comparable to the time of Van Emden.
Dumoulin quickly trumped
However, they were in the shadow of Dumoulin. The Dutch time trial champion recorded by far the fastest time of the moment. The Limburger probably had barely taken off his helmet when he had to make way again. Favorite for the final victory Simon Yates was still five seconds faster. Those were the times when Bauke Mollema and Wilco Kelderman gritted their teeth.
It was then up to Van der Poel to ensure that he finished within fourteen seconds of Yates’s time. At the intermediate point at the foot of the climb, he was less than a second behind. That was three seconds on top of the finish, with which he finished second just before Dumoulin.
Van der Poel now has an 11 second lead in the general classification over Yates. Dumoulin is third at 16 seconds, Wilco Kelderman fifth at 24 and Bauke Mollema eighth at 28 seconds, in the same time as Tobias Foss of Jumbo-Visma.