"Why not?" - Tom Dumoulin supports bonification seconds in time-trials

Riders are able to gain bonus seconds by finishing on the podium in all stages - except time trials. Something that does seem somewhat unfair to former time trial specialist Tom Dumoulin who spoke in favor of awarding the best chrono specialists as well.

This comes as a relatively surprising statement, which surged after the mountain time-trial up to Peyragudes at the Tour de France. But it's own nature, every rider races the time-trials alone and the time taken on the line is then taken into account for the overall classification. With certainty, not many would agree that bonifications make sense in the context of a time-trial, but former World Champion Tom Dumoulin would've liked to see that when he was a pro.

"As a time trialist, I am extremely subjective," Tom Dumoulin winks in Vive le vélo, "but I am completely in favor. Why not? Time trials are also a specialty, but one that isn't rewarded with extra gains in the general classification."

Dumoulin has become a time trial world champion in 2017 and remains fond of the discipline that earned him the best successes of his career. Such a novelty would be more than welcome by the likes of Remco Evenepoel, but we shouldn't expect any changes in this regard to come into effect in foreseeable future.

If it were the case it would most certainly also benefit the main overall classsification riders in the current peloton, who every year take up more and more positions towards the top of the time-trials. Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar finished first and second in the Tour's flat time-trial; whilst in Peyragudes Pogacar took the victory with an heft margin over Jonas Vingegaard. The two go into stage 15 separated by over 4 minutes but the time-trials have seen almost half of that gap being built between the two.