Froome claims bronze as Dumoulin wins time trial
● Briton secures his first individual World Championship medal but gold goes to flying Dutchman who also won the Giro
0 Winner Tom Dumoulin is a picture of determination during the elite individual time trial at the World Championships in Bergen. Great Britain’s Chris Froome secured a bronze medal in the men’s individual timetrial at the UCI Road World Championships in Norway.
Froome, who became only the third rider to win the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same year earlier this month, won his first individual World Championship medal in Bergen to cap a memorable summer.
Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands followed up his Giro d’italia win in May with a brilliant performance to win gold in a time of 44 minutes 41.00 seconds, 57.79sec ahead of silver medallist Primoz Roglic of Slovenia.
Four-time Tour de France champion Froome, who headed into the event with limited expectation after announcing he would compete for Britain in Norway during the Vuelta last month, finished 1min 21.25secs behind Dumoulin.
“A massive congratulations to Tom. I’m just glad I’ve got no regrets,” said Froome, who decided to race despite the gruelling three weeks competing in Spain.
“I gave it everything I had and I’d much rather be here and get a bronze than be at home wondering, ‘What if?”’ he 0 Chris Froome: Followed up Vuelta win with bronze medal. said. “The question has been answered and now it’s time to put my feet up.”
Dumoulin was also part of Team Sunweb’s gold medalwinning effort in Sunday’s team trial.
“Doing the double is amazing. Last Sunday it was a bit of a surprise that we won with the team,” he said. “Today is less surprising – I was one of the favourites. But in some ways that makes it harder.”
Froome edged out Portugal’s Nelson Oliveira for bronze after a punishing climb to finish, with the Briton’s Team Sky team-mate Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus in fifth.
Germany’s defending champion and four-time winner Tony Martin finished in ninth position, 1:39.88secs behind Dumoulin.
Froome, the first rider to complete the Tour-vuelta double in the same year since the Spanish race was rescheduled to follow the French event in 1995, won bronze medals in the individual time trial at the Olympics in both 2012 and 2016.
Chris Boardman, who won the inaugural World time-trial title in 1994, and Sir Bradley Wiggins, who triumphed in 2014, are the only two British riders to have won the individual gold medal. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal want to play doubles together at this week’s Laver Cup in Czech Republic.
The three-day competition at the O2 Arena in Prague starts tomorrow, pitting a team of the best six European players against the top six from the rest of the world. No ATP rankings points will be awarded.
Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem and Tomas Berdych are also on the European team to face Sam Querrey, John Isner, Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock, Denis Shapovalov and Frances Tiafoe.
Thetournamentistohonour Rod Laver, an 11-time major champion. It will include three singles and one doubles match every day. Bjorn Bjorg captains Europe while John Mcenroe does the same for the opponents.
“I’ve played a lot against Rafa on so many occasions, in big matches,” Federer said. “I think in nine Grand Slam finals. Finally, to have him on my side it’s a joy. We talked about playing doubles a long, long time ago. It never happened. Of course, I would love to share the side of the net this time around. We have to see how practice goes and then at the end Bjorn will take the ultimate decision.” Nadal concurred. “Of course, I would love [to play with Federer],” Nadal said. “It will be amazing if that happens. We’ve talked about that years ago to play in some tournament together. It didn’t happen yet. Let’s see if the captain allows us to play.”
Borg has yet to decide but suggested “there’s a very good chance” for Federer and Nadal. ● Britain have been handed a tough tie against Spain away in next year’s Davis Cup.