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Netherlands' Tom Dumoulin competes to take a third place and bronze medal in the men's individual time trial event over 47.1 kilometers (29.3 miles) at the Road Cycling World Championships in Ponferrada, north-western Spain, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Netherlands' Tom Dumoulin competes to take a third place and bronze medal in the men's individual time trial event over 47.1 kilometers (29.3 miles) at the Road Cycling World Championships in Ponferrada, north-western Spain, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

Tour de Suisse 2015 Results: Winner, Results, Overall Standings and Highlights

Gianni VerschuerenJun 21, 2015

Tom Dumoulin won the ninth and final stage of the 2015 Tour de Suisse, while Simon Spilak managed to overtake Geraint Thomas and Thibaut Pinot in the overall standings to win the entire Tour. The Tour's official account confirmed the news as L'Equipe 21 provided the standings:

Thomas and Spilak went head-to-head in the final time trial, and the Welshman lost too much time in the final sector after having overtaken Pinot in the overall standings. Pinot had a miserable outing on Sunday, finishing almost two minutes behind Dumoulin and slipping out of the top three altogether.

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Swiss cycling legend Fabian Cancellara set the charge early with an excellent time of 48 minutes and 55 seconds, and he was still in the lead as the top contenders took to the road. Trek Factory Racing wondered whether it would be good enough to take the stage:

Pinot had a 34-second lead over Thomas to start the stage, but the rest of the top six sat within two minutes of the race leader and was littered with excellent time trialists. While Stage 9 wasn't particularly long, sitting under 40 kilometers, a steep hill in the middle of the course would only aid those chasing his time.

All eyes were on Dumoulin and Thomas, with the former expected to do well on Sunday. ShimanoROAD shared this short video of his start:

After the first sector, the Dutch champion was already two seconds faster than Cancellara and gaining ground on Pinot in a hurry. The race leader lost over 10 seconds on Thomas as well, an ill omen with more than 25 kilometers still to go.

Spilak tied Dumoulin after 15 kilometers, as did Thomas, while the Dutchman was clocked 11 seconds faster than Cancellara after 21 kilometers. Meanwhile, Pinot was already out of the saddle, losing almost a minute on Dumoulin when he was first clocked at 15 kilometers.

One fan summarised his efforts quite well:

Spilak was flying with Dumoulin in his sights, shocking fans and pundits alike by bettering the Dutchman's time by one second. Meanwhile, Dumoulin went wide in a corner and nearly hit the pavement, messing up his rhythm.

Thomas appeared set for the win, but Spilak continued his fantastic pace and started making up ground on the Welshman as well. Spokenforks was glued to the screen:

The Welshman needed a nice flat section badly and started pushing a very big gear, making up time but wasting valuable energy. At the front of the race, Spilak crossed the line 12 seconds slower than Dumoulin, handing the Dutchman the race. But Thomas still needed to cross the line, and as he led Spilak by 13 seconds in the general classification, things would be tight. 

Ultimately, Thomas couldn't keep up the pace in the final sector, losing five seconds on Spilak and finishing the Tour de Suisse in second place. Pinot crossed the finish line as the final rider, losing almost two minutes on Dumoulin. L'Equipe 21 shared the final standings:

Race winner Dumoulin told reporters he was satisfied with his performance during the 2015 Tour de Suisse, focusing entirely on the time trials, as shared by his team's official Twitter account:

Thomas was hugely disappointed, as he rode for the winner's podium and refused to answer questions from the media. Considering the huge effort he put in to win on Sunday and the fact he fell just five seconds short, that shouldn't come as a huge surprise.

The Stage 9 course was tailor-made for Spilak, who has always found success when the course isn't as flat as traditional time trialists would like, and losing this Tour de Suisse to the 28-year-old is no disgrace. Thomas appears to be in excellent form ahead of the Tour de France, where Team Sky will expect him to be the right-hand man to Chris Froome.

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