Vuelta Stage 17 winner Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alepecin)(Image credit: Bettini)
Tom Dumoulin confirmed he will ride the Giro d'Italia in 2016
Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin)
Jack of all trades he may be, but for 2016, at least, Tom Dumoulin has designs only on being master of the time trial. Although the Dutchman revealed during Thursday’s Giant-Alpecinpresentation in Berlin that he will ride the Giro d’Italia this May, he stressed that his season will be built around the time trial at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Carrying the red jersey into the final weekend of last year’s Vuelta a España confirmed the feeling of many that – despite his own protestations, that Dumoulin was a Grand Tour contender in waiting. Yet while he will line up at the Giro d’Italia seeking to wear the pink jersey on home roads in the opening time trial in Apeldoorn, he insisted he does not harbours of ambitions of carrying it all the way to Milan.
“I didn’t want to do all of the Ardennes Classics because I’ve focused three or four years on being good there and it never worked out. Maybe it’s not my time of year,” he admitted.
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Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
