Tom Dumoulin looks back at issues during stay in Jumbo-Visma: "I lost a part of myself, which made it not a happy marriage"

Tom Dumoulin was a very successful stage-racer during his year at Team Sunweb. However when he moved to Jumbo-Visma he lost the freedom and autonomy he was used to, and that eventually led to the demise of his pro career.

“I needed freedom and autonomy and this team stood for structure. Nothing bad about that team, because they are doing fantastic and they had it all together, even in my years. But I lost even more of that part that I needed, that autonomy," Dumoulin admits in an interview with De Telegraaf. "Not with bad intentions, because the team had the best for me, but I did lose it. I lost a part of myself, which made it not a happy marriage.” The Dutchman was signed as a leader, but in the stage-races he never again performed at the same level.

In the time-trials he kept a high level, but that was not enough for Dumoulin, who retired during the 2022 season. Whilst the Dutch team thrives currently with it's methods of training, that was not always the case. Their former rider was a clear example, and that was obvious during the 2020 documentary Code Geel - which gave insight into the team. “That will certainly be confrontational. That I was not feeling well at all at the time and was very unhappy, you can see that very clearly in that film, at least that is what I heard."

"I was there myself, I know what it was like, I don't feel like watching it again. You see me struggling. I don't have to share that with the rest of the world. I don't feel the need to share things with the rest of the world anyway. And especially not when things are going very badly.”