Spurred on by the red jersey on his back, thoughts of overall victory and most of all the memory of his late father, Robert Gesink today pulled off the best time trial of his career to win the race against the clock in the Tour of Oman. Benefiting from a tough course which made things difficult for the pure specialists, the 24 year old Dutchman scorched over the 18.5 kilometre course at Al Jissah, beating Italian road race champion Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) by sixteen seconds and Italian time trial title holder Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) by eight more.
The quality of his performance was underlined by the 27 and 29 seconds he put into world champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) and last year’s TT winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling), respectively. Tour of Qatar prologue victor Lars Boom (Rabobank) was eighth with American Christian Vande Velde (Team Garmin-Cervelo) netting a solid tenth.
“It’s a really big surprise to have won the time-trial,” Gesink admitted, speaking of the moment when his Grand Tour prospects took a major leap forward. “When I took off on the course, my goal was to try and keep the red jersey. To win a time-trial is a huge surprise but the course was very difficult and suited me. The fact that we were on normal bikes helped me.
“It was already very special to win yesterday’s stage, it was my goal on this Tour of Oman, so to win today’s time-trial is fantastic. Now I have to keep control of the red jersey.”
Undoubtedly aided by the climbs on the course, Gesink ends the day a full one minute and 13 seconds ahead of Boasson Hagen, and a further six ahead of Visconti. Michael Albasini (HTC-Highroad) is fourth, one minute 52 seconds back, while Vande Velde (Team Garmin-Cervelo) is two minutes and four seconds back in fifth place.
The 2.1-ranked race concludes tomorrow with a 157 kilometre road race stage from Qurayyat to Mattrah Seafront. It is lumpy early on but has a completely flat second half, and seems tailor-made for a big bunch sprint.
With two stage wins in the bag plus a comfortable advantage over all of his main rivals, Gesink appears to be on course for the biggest stage race victory of his career.
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Tour of Oman (2.1), Feb 15 – 20:
February 19, Stage 5 time trial at Al Jissah:
1, Robert Gesink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 18.5 kilometres in 29 mins 21 secs
2, Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) at 16 secs
3, Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) at 24 secs
4, Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) at 27 secs
5, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) at 29 secs
6, Adriano Malori (Lampre - ISD) at 36 secs
7, Michael Albasini (HTC-Highroad) at 37 secs
8, Lars Boom (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 43 secs
9, Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) at 59 secs
10, Christian Vande Velde (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 1 min 1 secs
Combativity:
1, Robert Gesink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 3 pts
2, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) 2
3, Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) 1
Young rider:
1, Robert Gesink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 29 mins 21 secs
2, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) at 29 secs
3, Adriano Malori (Lampre - ISD) at 36 secs
Teams:
1, Rabobank Cycling Team, 1 hour 30 mins 6 secs
2, HTC – Highroad, at 5 secs
3, Team Leopard-Trek, at 30 secs
4, Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli, at 1 min 45 secs
5, Pro Team Astana, at 2 mins 20 secs
6, Sky Procycling, at 2 mins 21 secs
General classification after stage 5:
1, Robert Gesink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 16 hours 44 mins 38 secs
2, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) at 1 min 13 secs
3, Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) at 1 min 19 secs
4, Michael Albasini (HTC-Highroad) at 1 min 52 secs
5, Christian Vande Velde (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 2 mins 4 secs
6, Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) at 2 mins 11 secs
7, Dries Devenyns (Quickstep Cycling Team) at 2 mins 13 secs
8, Maxime Monfort (Leopard Trek) at 2 mins 19 secs
9, Patrik Sinkewitz (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) at 2 mins 51 secs
10, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) at 3 mins 2 secs
Young rider:
1, Robert Gesink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 16 hours 44 mins 38 secs
2, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) at 1 min 13 secs
3, Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) at 4 mins 58 secs
Points:
1, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) 41 pts
2, Robert Gesink (Rabobank Cycling Team) 30
3, Theo Bos (Rabobank Cycling Team) 30
4, Matthew Harley Goss (HTC-Highroad) 24
5, Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) 24
6, Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) 19
Combativity:
1, Marko Kump (Geox-TMC) 12 pts
2, Pieter Serry (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) 6
3, Patrik Sinkewitz (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) 6
Team:
1, Team Leopard-Trek, 50 hours 21 mins 40 secs
2, Sky Procycling, at 2 mins 45 secs
3, BMC Racing Team, at 6 mins 40 secs
4, Team Garmin – Cervélo, at 7 mins 43 secs
5, Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli, at 8 mins 42 secs
6, HTC – Highroad, at 9 mins 40 secs