Dutch star pleased with limited GC action on Montevergine climb
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Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) finishes with select group on Mount Etna(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) changes out of his wet kit after a rainy finish (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images Sport)
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) humours the fans with a selfie(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) completed the Giro d'Italia's second summit finish stage expressing limited satisfaction with his performance after a day he told reporters was not ideal.
Dumoulin never looked to be in trouble on the rain-soaked 209-kilometre stage to Montevergine di Mercogliano, crossing the line in 11th place. He remains second overall.
However, the Giro's defending champion did not seem any more upbeat than he was after the Etna summit finish three days ago, where he had told reporters his performance had been "not good, but not bad."
"I didn't have the best of days," Dumoulin told reporters afterwards. "I'm happy not much happened today and that it wasn't a GC stage. I'm looking forward to the stages further on in the race."
Dumoulin said he had been riding close to Chris Froome (Team Sky) when the four-time Tour de France champion fell for the second time in this year's Giro d'Italia. Whilst Froome's crash appeared to be minor, Dumoulin came through completely unscathed.
"[Chris] Froome (Team Sky) was just ahead of me when he crashed. I brushed against him a bit when that happened, but I could stay on my bike," Dumoulin recounted.
Dumoulin and the rest of the Giro d'Italia peloton will face a much bigger challenge on Sunday with the ascent of the summit finish of the Gran Sasso in central Italy, and a final segment of the stage that features around 45 kilometres of relentless climbing. For now, though, the Dutchman seems simply happy to ticked off another day of racing.
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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
