On Sunday, the Estonian Rein Taaramäe represented Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux on the Chrono des Nations (1.1, 17/10). Wearing his national champion's jersey, he took off at 3:23 pm for a 44.5-kilometer time trial on the outskirts of Les Herbiers, in Vendée.
The recent Vuelta a España stage winner completed the course in 54.09 minutes, just over two minutes behind winner Küng, earning him twelfth place. The 34-year-old rider, who was competing in this event for the first time in his career, thus concluded his particularly successful season.
As a reminder, in addition to his national title acquired last June and his victory atop of Picon Blanco, he wore the red jersey as leader of the race on the Vuelta for two days. He constantly displayed an attacking style of racing, participating in breakaways during Paris-Nice, on the Tour of Catalonia, the Tour de Romandie, the Giro d’Italia, and took third place in the Sazka Tour after a hilly stage race.
During the time trial I had the feeling that I was able to get the most out of myself, and my numbers proved that I was right. This race was for the team one of the important events on their roadmap towards an improvement in this discipline, so I’m happy that I can contribute to the team’s innovation in terms of equipment or positioning on the bike. This time trial was a nice way to conclude my first season with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert. I’m proud that I was able to achieve one of the important goals of the season for the team, winning a Grand Tour stage.
