The Dutch rider, who starred at the 2015 Vuelta a España, was earmarked as one of the favourites for the 9.8 kilometres opening stage of the race and justified his billing with a strong display over the short distance.

Dumoulin was one of the later starters to the opening stage of the 99th edition of the race, taking place in The Netherlands for the third time in its history.

He began his effort targeting the 11min 03sec time of Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic, who occupied first place in the standings.

The 25-year-old looked on course to finish in second place in a time trial for the fourth time this International Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour season, having done so twice at last week’s Tour de Romandie and once at Paris-Nice.

Dumoulin, though, crossed the line 0.01 second faster than Roglic to claim the opening stage win and assume the early general classification lead.

“I’m a very lucky man today, I realise how narrowly I’ve won by,” Dumoulin said.

“It was a lot of suffering, especially at the end of the course, I’m actually feeling sick with a stomach bug but I’m also so, so happy!.

“The effort I made at the Tour de Romandie to prepare for this time trial has paid off.

“I would have liked to go a bit faster but only the result counts and winning here in the Netherlands is so special.”

Fabian Cancellara, racing in his final season as a professional, had proved unable to challenge the Team Giant-Alpecin rider’s time, with the Swiss finishing 14 seconds off the pace due to illness.

Pre-race favourite Vincenzo Nibali began the first Grand Tour of the season in impressive style as the Italian ended 19 seconds down.

His time gave him an early advantage over Spain’s Alejandro Valverde and Mikel Landa, as the Movistar and Team Sky riders crossed the line 24 and 40 seconds behind the stage winner’s time.

Dumoulin will be expected to preserve his race lead tomorrow, with stage two's profile being a flat 190km route from Arnhem to Nijmegen.