Tom Dumoulin says that Jumbo-Visma will have to adapt and be more clever with their tactics at the Tour de France even though Primož Roglič has demonstrated a level above the rest individually, and the Dutch team have dominated their rivals at the recent Tour de l'Ain and so far at the Critérium du Dauphiné as a group.
"This tactic of being on the front and each of us setting the pace one after another is fine at this race where all we're focused on is Primoz taking victory, but it won't work at the Tour where everyone else's level will be higher. We'll need a different tactical plan there," said Dumoulin after the Dauphiné's third stage.
The 2017 Giro d'Italia winner and 2018 Tour runner-up said his form is on the up but he's still looking for a little more consistency. "Yesterday I had a better day, but I had to change my bike at the bottom of the climb. Today I was a little less strong, but I was still up there, so it's fine. But I definitely have to improve before the Tour," he said.
He added that the team would need to take better advantage of the strengths of its three leaders. Looking ahead to the Tour, Dumoulin admitted it's not too soon to say that Roglic will be Jumbo's leader.
"It's not premature to say that. I think it's Primoz [for Jumbo-Visma] and that [Egan] Bernal is Ineos' leader," he said. "Hopefully me and Stevie [Kruijswijk] will improve and hopefully G [Geraint Thomas] and Froomey won't," he said of Ineos's leaders, a big smile very apparent beneath his mask.
"It could be that the 'shadow' leaders will be closer to the level of Primoz and Bernal in the Tour, and then we'll just have to see how that works," he suggested. "But what we've seen so far is that Primoz is by far the strongest rider, and that's nice. As a team we are also very strong."
