One year ago Tom Dumoulin finished second behind Tony Martin in the Tour of Belgium time trial. Today he repreated that feat in the 2014 edition of the race but this time the winning margin was much smaller, proving how far he has come in a year.

Tom Dumoulin has finished second on the stage three individual time trial at the Baloise Belgium Tour, just 16 seconds behind World Champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quickstep).

Dumoulin raced around the 16.7km course in a time of 19’59″ averaging over 50kmh. Teammate Chad Haga was also in the top 10, finishing with a deficit of 51 seconds, which placed him ninth on the day.

“It was a pretty straight forward course today, being flat and windy and not very technical, but I always believe that what ever the time trial course, the strongest will always come through,” Tom told us after the stage.

“The legs were good out there but I did surprise myself a bit as I have had a bit of a cold in the last few days but the result showed today that it hasn’t affected my performance. I was second in the time trial here last year by 40 seconds and although it was a different course I know that I have improved a lot since then and the result also reflects this.

“I am looking forward to the next few days and we will push to try and get time back on Martin but he has a strong team and it will be tough, but we will fight for it.”