Tom Dumoulin was quickest to win the time trial on Stage Thirteen of the Tour De France
Today, it was the first time trial of the race and it was a 37.5km course from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc for the riders including race leader Chris Froome who had a scare on Stage Twelve.
Following the events in Nice Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France director said: “It’s a day of mourning for France and for the Tour de France.
We know Nice very well. Every year in March we organize Paris-Nice.
We’ve had an emergency meeting with the prefect of the Ardèche, the police forces, the gendarmerie, representatives of the GIGN in connection with the highest state authorities.
Today’s stage in the Ardèche will be contested.
In a few minutes we’ll have a minute of silence at the start village and again this evening as a tribute to the victims. Our thoughts are with the bereaved families. We extend our condolences to everyone affected by the tragedy.
We wondered about having a race today or not. But in agreement with the state authorities, we believe that the race must go on and we shouldn’t give in to the pressure of the people who would like us to change our lifestyle.
The Tour de France will go on in sobriety and dignity.”
With Simon Gerrans and Thibaut Pinot both not starting, it was Irishmen Sam Bennett who set the first time finishing the course in 58.55.
Alexia Gougeard was next to go quickest finishing in 54.27 before TInkoff's Maciej Bodnar finished in 52.47.
BMC's Rohan Dennis was fastest at the first checkpoint, some 39 seconds quicker than Gougeard and quickest at the second and third checkpoints and set the new time to beat finishing in 51.56.
Dennis told letour.com: "Overall I'm happy with the ride, it's been a tough Tour so far. Considering it's stage 13, it's a different feeling time trialing with super fatigue, especially when the course is so hard, not just the climbing in general but the wind as well played a huge part. I think one major factor for anyone who's gonna be going for today's stage is what wheels they pick. Look, some of the smaller guys might not be picking a faster wheel and just because of their weight and not being able to hold the bike. You've got those crosswinds so maybe it might help us. As bigger guys, you could say… I'm hoping for my own sake that that's the case but it's definitely not an easy course today. It's quite challenging."
British rider Steve Cummings was then quickest at the second checkpoint, going some 23 seconds faster than the former World Hour record holder but finished behind Dennis in 52.39.
Edward Theuns of Trek Segafredo crashed and was forced to abandon the race as Nelson Oliveria took over the lead of the race finishing in 51.46 some ten seconds quicker than Rohan Dennis with half the riders having gone down the ramp.
Tony Martin went fifth quickest but it was Tom Dumoulin of Giant Alpecin who was quickest at the first and third checkpoints and finished in a time of 50.15 at an average speed of 44.7kmh.
Richie Porte lost three minutes to Dumoulin whilst Froome was second fastest at the second checkpoint.
Adam Yates came home in 53.56.74 but a 51.18.87 from Froome sawhim put more time into his General Classification rivals apart from a delighted Tom Dumoulin who took the win.