Tom Dumoulin confirmed his great progression as a time triallist when he finished third in today’s World Championships time trial. Knowing that Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin would be superior, he was pleased with the relatively small time gaps that make him dream about better results in the future.

This year Tom Dumoulin has made some great leaps forward in the time trials. He has been second behind Tony Martin no less than four times but this year, gradually narrowing the gap to the seemingly invincible German.

Those performances had made him the pre-race favourite for the bronze medal in today’s World Championships time trial where it was a common assessment that Bradley Wiggins and Martin would be in a class of their own. That prediction proved to be correct but Dumoulin lived up to expectations by being the best of the rest, just 40 seconds behind Wiggins and 14 seconds behind Martin.

Going into the race, Dumoulin had made it clear that he was not expecting to beat Martin and Wiggins and that the bronze medal was probably the maximum achievable. Taking third, he reached his pre-race target and was even closer to the two giants than he had expected.

“I am really pleased,” he told several media, including CyclingQuotes, after the race. “Even if the gap had been bigger and I got third, I would also have been really happy. But the gap is not that big so that is promising for the next years.”

Dumoulin is not only a great time triallist. This year he finished fifth in the Tour de Suisse and recently he was second in the GP de Quebec, proving that he is also climbing pretty well. Those versatile skills served him well on the course in Ponferrada.

“It was definitely more about power to weight,” he said. “That suits me pretty well because I am also pretty light for a time triallist. I knew the final was really hard. I saved myself a little bit for that.

“I was focusing on my own ride. I onlu wanted to know the last time split but I didn’t get it. I don’t know why. I decided to go as hard as I can. Of course you have to on those hills. I made it.”

With Wiggins ruling out another assault at the rainbow jersey, Dumoulin now seems to be the biggest threat to Martin’s superiority in the next few years.

“I have got my first medal at 23,” he said. “I hope to do better in the future. Of course you don’t know exactly how it turns out. I hope I can still improve.”

Dumoulin’s versatile skills mean that he can be a contender in a lot of races. He doesn’t want to focus solely on the time trials and still sees himself being a protagonist in the classics too.

“That’s also the question for me,” he said when asked about his next targets. “Before I came here, I did Canada. I did really well in the one-day classics over there. I hope to combine the two, to still be a good time triallist and compete in the one-day races with the hills.”

However, he rules out becoming a grand tour rider in the foreseeable future.

“My mind is not on GC in big tours for the moment. I am still young so I need to improve.”

On the press conference, Bradley Wiggins jokingly said that Dumoulin just had to join Team Sky for his results to go through the roof. For the moment, however, Dumoulin has a contract with Team Giant-Shimano that will be known as Team Giant-Alpecin in 2015.

“I still have a contract for next year,” he said. “I am still 23. I hope to make improvements. Until now, this team has been really good for me. I have made some really big steps here. Next year I will still be with Team Giant-Alpecin.”

Dumoulin will next line up in Sunday’s road race as part of a strong Dutch team.