Rabobank rider Stef Clement won the Dutch National time trial Championships in Veendam over the distance of 46.4 kilometers. Clement rode home in 56'56 and was over half a minute clear to a Vacansoleil trio. Jens Mouris took silver (31 seconds back) and Martijn Keizer bronze (34 seconds). Keizer was one second ahead of teammate Lieuwe Westra.
Clement was very happy with yet another time trial win at Nationals. "That's four in a row!" he tweeted. "By far my most valuable victory, really needed this one! Thanks to all people that kept faith in me while injured!" He sounded cautious ahead of the race. "Did a good last training for the TT-championships tomorrow," he wrote on Tuesday on his twitter account. "Goal is to do a good TT, I'm curious where I stand opposite to my opponents."
Clement showed excellent timing on the two-lap course. Directeur Sportif Erik Dekker was in the car behind Clement and was very satisfied with his protégé. "At the intermediate time [after one lap] he already had the best time, but it was only by a handful of seconds," Dekker said on the team's website. "He truly made the difference in the second lap." Dekker was impressed with the half-minute gap. "One second is already enough to become champion, but this is really a decisive difference," he said.
Dekker was especially pleased for Clement, after the Dutchman had tough luck with injuries. "He became national champion two years ago, but then he suffered from injuries. It is special for him to be able to compete again for the win - and then to actually do it!"
The balance couldn't be better - four starts, four wins. "Beforehand he is of course the one with the biggest palmarès in that discipline, so he belonged to the list of favorites. But you have to follow through on it." Some of Clement's teammates had higher hopes as well. But Maarten Tjallingii (seventh), Denis van Winden (eighth) and defending champion Jos van Emden (ninth) were behind expectations. "We had more racers here with podium potential, but they couldn't get it done," Dekker said.
Dekker had a practical view on it. "In that regard, time trialing is a very honest discipline. The most important is that we have the title." Dekker pointed out how important the win was. "Vacansoleil today has the places two, three, and four. But not the title."
Vacansoleil's directeur sportif Michel Cornelisse saw it similarly but more positively. "Time trialing is an extremely honest discipline. I am proud that we were able to start with three specialists." For a while, Cornelisse could hope for more. "After one lap it was very close," he said. "In the second lap Clement really rode away from everybody else."
For Westra, it was déjà-vu, as he finished second once before (2007). He obtained the bronze medal last year, but had hoped for more. "If you are one of best Dutch time trialers throughout the year, then you are a little annoyed that it didn't work out today," Cornellisse said.
Mouris was much happier. "I have really been on form in the last weeks, so it nice that it worked out today. I really had power on those pedals.
Kazakhstan and Estonia crown champions as well
In Kazakhstan, the Elite rider Dmitriy Gruzdev managed an upset, beating the Astana duo of Andrey Mizourov and Alexsandr Dyachenko. Gruzdev improved on his silver medal ride from 2007. Mizourov had won the title for three years running, with two further titles (2002 and 1999) added. Dyachenko has one win in this discipline at Nationals (2007).
In Estonia, Mart Ojavee prevailed over Martin Puusepp and Tanel Kangert.