Giro d'Italia: Loss of pink jersey is no hardship for Tom Dumoulin
'We had a strategy not to spend a lot of energy' says Dutchman after stage ꦓ2





168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) did not look altogether disappointed to have conceded the maglia rosa as he slowed to a halt on Tel Aviv's Kaufmann Street following stage 2 of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d'Italia, though he gently dismissed the idea that he had deliberatel𒁏y sought to l🥂ose the race lead.
The Dutchman finished safely in the main peloton on a stage won by Elia Viviani (Quick-Steꦕp Floors) and now lies second overall, a second behind Rohan Dennis (BMC), 💎who picked up a time bonus at the intermediate sprint in Caesarea to move into the pink jersey.
"Other teams had a strategy to take it; we had a strategy not to spend a lot of energy. It was not my plan to lose it; other teams made me lဣose it," Dumoulin explained neatly to the knot of reporters that drew tightly arou🃏nd him past the finish line.
After winning the opening time trial in Jerusalem on Friday, Dumoulin set out from Haifa with a buffer of two seconds over Dennis and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Fix All), and it was notable that his Sunweb team made no effort to prev𓃲ent Campenaerts' attempt to bridge across to the day's early break.
BMC, on the other hand, worked to shut down the European time trial champion's move, signalling Dennis' designs on the pink jersey. The Australian went on to claim a three-second time bonus in Caesarea, where Dumoulin preferred to observe proceedings from a safe remove. By day's end,𒁃 perhaps sooner than even he had anticipated, Dumoulin was relieved of the burden of carrying the race lead.
"Victor Campenaerts tried to go in the breakaway, but BMC closed it every time, so then I knew they were going to go for the intermediate sprint to try to take the seconds there," Dumoulin saidꦇ.
"It's never nice to lose a jersey but maybe in three weeks' time, we'll say it was better to that, because now we can save the team a bit more and I can save my time a little more – I'm goi♊ng straight to the hotel after this – so it could be an ad𓆉vantage."
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Even though the chance to beat a hasty retreat to his hotel was part of the attraction of conceding the maglia rosa, the loquacious Dumoulin ate into some of that saved time after theꦕ stage by speaking at length in Dut🐼ch and English on the finish line.
At one point, a local woman nudged her way into the scrum of reporters to call out to Dumoulin. "We all l✱ove your smile," she said, and the Dutchman flashed a bashful Colgate grin in her direction before continuing his thought.
"I expected this. I said this morning it wa🌠s a possibility that they could try to take the jersey, and I said if it happened, we wou🌌ld not do everything to keep them from doing it," Dumoulin said. "It would cost a lot of energy, and it's a three-week race."
Dennis' chances at overall victory
Dumoulin retains the 37-second buffer he built up over Chris Froome (Team Sky) in the stage 1 time trial, as well as a lead of almost a minute over climbers Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Fabio Aru (UAE-Team Emirates). At this early juncture, of cour꧒se, the list of genuine contenders for the maglia rosa is but hazily defined.
Dennis, for instance, has long spoke🅰n of his desire to replicate Dumoulin's remar💯kable transition from time triallist to Grand Tour winner and views this Giro as an important preliminary step on that path.
"I don't know, we will see, but I think he can get pretty far," said Dumoulin, who began to tread this particular road with his near miss at the 2015 Vuelta a Eᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚspaña, when ♋he led into the penultimate day.
"At the Vuelta a few years ago, even I didn't think I would do so well on GC. You never kn🃏ow, he could go pretty far, or he could maybe lose it in t🏅he second or third week. We will see."

Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cycling𒆙news. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writi🙈ng has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of , published by Gill Books.