Tom Dumoulin closed out a successful week for Team Giant-Alpecin in Australia’s Tour Down Under today. He secured his fourth spot in the overall rankings, “taking home a good result,” one week after Marcel Kittel won the pre-race People’s Choice Classic.

Dumoulin finished 22 seconds behind overall winner Rohan Dennis (BMC). Richie Porte (Sky) placed second at two seconds and Cadel Evans (BMC) in third at 20 seconds. Simon Geschke placed 18th overall.

Wearing the white jersey for Dennis, Dumoulin fought to protect his overall position in the hectic closing Adelaide city circuit and sprinted to 13th behind winner Wouter Wippert (Drapac).

A crash on ahead of the final lap of 20, stopped several riders including Marcel Kittel, Albert Timmer and Chad Haga. With each lap 4.5 kilometres, Kittel had no time to re-join and sprint for the win.

“I just got caught behind in the crash,” Kittel explained. “There is not much to explain. We came here with the GC, and we are fourth with Tom Dumoulin, which is a good result. It was a good week for us, with a win in the criterium and nearly the podium for Tom.”

“The bunch sprint was affected by a big crash in the second last lap,” said race coach Addy Engels. “Marcel, Albert and Chad were involved, but suffered no injuries. Unfortunately, though, we had no stage result.

“I am really satisfied with the overall. The classification was main goal and a fourth place is above our expectations. Marcel wins one out of two available days, so it’s a super start for me.”

“I’m satisfied with the result,” Dumoulin said. “My preparations where not all that great, but it finally started to run smoothly in the race itself. Given the chance beforehand, I would have gladly agreed to a fourth place, finishing behind three Australians in great shape. The team worked hard for me all week and I am glad I can go home with a good result.”