Tom Dumoulin going 'full gas' for GC at Critérium du Dauphiné

SAINT CHRISTO EN JAREZ FRANCE AUGUST 12 Primoz Roglic of Slovenia and Team Jumbo Visma Tom Dumoulin of The Netherlands and Team Jumbo Visma Sepp Kuss of The United States and Team Jumbo Visma during the 72nd Criterium du Dauphine 2020 Stage 1 a 2185km stage from Clermont Ferrand to Saint Christo en Jarez 752m dauphine Dauphin on August 12 2020 in Saint Christo en Jarez France Photo by Justin SetterfieldGetty Images
Tom Dumoulin rides behind Jumbo-Visma teammate Primož Roglič at the Critérium du Dauphiné (Image credit: Getty Images)

Team Jumbo-Visma began the Critérium du Dauphiné with the same winning flair they showed over the weekend at the Tour de l'Ain and Milan-San Remo, with team co-leader Tom Dumoulin admitted that their plan for the opening stage had been to back San Remo winner Wout van Aert to the hilt.

The stage to Saint-Christo-en-Jarez was the first of five summit finishes at race, though notably easier than those to come. As a result, the Dutch squad focussed their resources around Van Aert, rather than one of their pure climbing options.

Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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