DEFENDING champion Tom Dumoulin has won the opening stage of the 101st Giro d’Italia, edging out Australia’s Rohan Dennis by two seconds to claim the pink jersey.
The Dutchman from Team Sunweb was the last of the 175 riders to start and finished the 9.7km time trial in 12 minutes, two seconds.
Thousands of spectators lined Jerusalem’s streets to watch the first Grand Tour cycling race ever held outside Europe.
The cyclists passed Israel’s parliament, Supreme Court, the Israel Museum and the Hebrew University on their route through Jerusalem.
The historic opening of the race concluded just as the previous one ended, with Dumoulin grabbing the overall lead in an individual time trial.
Read the report in The Observer.