Arguably the best time trial specialist of past few seasons, Tony Martin, lost last year's World Championships in that discipline to Bradley Wiggins. As the renowned Briton switches all his focus to track cycling again, Etixx-Quick Step powerhouse points out to Tom Dumoulin as his next big opponent.

Despite being only 23-years old at that time, Dumoulin gauged his effort perfectly on the tricky course around Ponferrada to take third place behind Wiggins and Martin last year, 14 seconds down on the latter. Thus it comes as no surprise that multiple ITT world champion expects the young Giant-Alpecin rider to considerably improve in the nearest future.

„He will only get better, so I have to keep an eye on his for sure,” Martin said in an interview for Wielerrevue. „But there is still a gap between us and it's up to Dumoulin to close it. I wonder how long it's going to take.”

Moreover, Martin expects Dumoulin to evolve into a pure time trial specialist, capable of dominating he discipline in the same way he did.

„He cartainly has a potential to beat me, but I see him as a pure specialist capable of winning almost all of the major time trials. I may be wrong about it, though... Winning a race once is one thing, but repeating such performances is a tougher challenge. Then it's not just about one's body.”

„Dumoulin is still young and there is less pressure on him than on me. This is an advantage. I am very curious if and when he is going to close that gap [between us],” the German rider concluded.