"I wouldn't recommend it to anyone" - Tom Dumoulin casts warning for cycling's best

Tom Dumoulin has now found his calling outside of the peloton and is the director of the Amstel Gold Race. The former Dutch pro is also one of the most honest figures within the sport and recalls the difficulties he experienced as a pro rider, specially the years he spent at Team Visma | Lease a Bike.

Dumoulin recalls his best years as the ones he spent at Sunweb, where he developed first as a classics rider and time trialist, who also helped the team's sprinters. "I still see and speak to those guys now. That created so much connection, all those years we did that together," the Dutchman said in an interview with Sportnieuws.

Eventually he turned into a quality stage-racer and ultimately Grand Tour specialist, performing well over 2015 and 2016 in the mountains; and then putting his abilities to use in the Grand Tours where he would succeed.

The 2017 season, where he won the time trial World Championships but above all the Giro d'Italia, remains the best and most successful of his career. "That was fantastic, and I will never forget it for the rest of my life".

In 2018, he finished second at both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, cementing him as a generational talent, doing what very few others had the ability to, in a team that was rather modest in comparison to Team Sky who won both that year.

But his 2019 season was very complicated with a crash taking him out of the Giro. He was pushed into trying to make it into the Tour de France but abandoned the Criterium du Dauphiné and admitted his decision to skip the Tour was a relief. That period of his career, followed by his years at Visma, were very complicated, he recalls.

"I have had a few very difficult years, certainly the final years of my career. The roles and responsibilities were fixed. That is not bad in itself, but at a certain point it became so structured and rigid that it limited my freedom of movement and even felt stifling. As a result, I also felt like I had to give up my freedom and autonomy," he explains.

At Visma it has been widely reported that the training methods are more rigid currently, something which is not a good fit with some riders. Dumoulin never found his best level in the Dutch team and motivation was certainly a questions right up to his retirement in late 2022 - mid-season.

"In the later years of my career, I experienced it as very lonely at the top. And that is largely my own fault. I didn't know how to handle myself regarding all the parties that had an interest in my career", he admits.

"The team wanted something, sponsors wanted something, fans wanted something, the media wanted something, the Netherlands wanted something. No one had bad intentions towards me, but all in all, I felt that so many parties wanted something from me. And because I wanted to do well for everyone, I got the feeling that I wasn't doing well for myself".

The price of the pressure was a retirement that came premature, and a career that began to downfall as soon as he moved into a team that would go on to win several Tours de France.

It is a dire warning even to those at the top that maintaining balance and the position in the cycling world is a task as difficult as getting there. "That resulted in a lonely feeling during those years. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I know it's much more fun to be at the top together. But sometimes it can be lonely too".