Tom Dumoulin: "I already know quite well what I have to do to ride a good classification"
Cycling
Tom Dumoulin will ride the Giro d'Italia as a leader for Jumbo-Visma, as the Dutch team have scheduled Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard to hunt the Tour de France win. Together with Tobias Foss and Sam Ooomen, Dumoulin will have a strong contingent in the climbs, and is ambitioning a return to the top of the Grand Tour GC's.
He spent three weeks in an altitude camp in preparation for the Giro. In an interview with Wielerflits at the beggining of it, he clears out first that the lack of a good preparation results-wide is not a reason to concern: “I don't feel like I've fallen behind as a result. No, I'm not that worried. It felt like it would have been better if I had ridden a normal spring in which I had done all the races and posted a few results. You take that good mental feeling with you to the Giro. Then you feel a bit more comfortable in your own skin," he told.
“In terms of physical preparation, I would have preferred it to be different. My past results do encourage me to believe that things will be fine. I have often started a Grand Tour well after injuries without an ideal preparation," he pointed out.
As a past winner of the Giro, back in 2017 with the current Team DSM, Dumoulin will no doubt aim high. In 2020, he has abandoned the Vuelta a España and subsequently taken a break from cycling quoting psychological fatigue. Ever since, Dumoulin has finished runner-up in the Olympic time-trial, aswell as a few other promising results - but none in the mountainous terrain, which he'll have to face quite a lot in the coming weeks.
He value his experience though. He's been in contention for several Grand Tours, and so comes to the Giro with a relaxed mindset. "...I've only done one Grand Tour in the last three or four years. In the meantime, however, I already know quite well what I have to do to ride a good classification. Ultimately, it comes down to your own legs... My only goal in the run-up to the Giro is to start in the best possible shape. On the spot we just go and see ride by ride," he said.
Although he doesn't come to the Corsa Rosa with absolute leadership in Jumbo, he is expected to be the team's most popular figure, and likely the one in which the team will work the best to protect throughout the flat stages. The last Grand Tour he concluded was in 2020, where he finished seventh at the Tour de France whilst in support of Primoz Roglic.
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