After his two second places in the Tour de Suisse time trials, Tom Dumoulin was the overwhelming favourite in yesterday's Dutch time trial championships. The Giant-Shimano rider took a dominant victory despite crashing early in the race.

Tom Dumoulim has won the Dutch National Time trial Championships and will wear the national stripes as champion for the next 12 months. Dumoulin won the race convincingly despite crashing on the opening lap, but there was nothing stopping him today.

The result comes on the same day as Dumoulin was announced as one of the nine riders heading to the Tour de France next weekend. As such Dumoulin will be wearing he national champions skinsuit on the Stage 20 time trial at the race.

Dumoulin raced around the 47.8km course in a time of 56’08″ putting nearly a minute between himself and the runner-up.

After the race, Dumoulin said: “I am so happy with this result. Red, white and blue for the coming year it is! I had my eye on this race for a little while and following the Tour de Suisse and two second places there I knew that I was in good form.

“I even crashed on the first lap this evening but I had Marc Reef coaching me behind to stay calm and that helped me a lot. The team have been great in supporting me and with the Giant Trinity TT bike I have a superb machine which helps a lot.”

Team Giant-Shimano coach, Marc Reef added: “Tom did a great job today to stay calm after he crashed and make sure he still paced himself. He was really focused and super smooth out on the course.

“It is a great reward for the hard work he has put in both on his own and with the team’s coaches and trainers to develop and get stronger. With Tom we have a well structured plan in place for his development and he is going from strength to strength.”