Jumbo-Visma's Tom Dumoulin – currently riding in the service of team leader and race leader Primoz Roglic at the Tour de France – is not ruling out racing the elite men's individual time trial at the World Championships on September 25. The 2017 TT world champion said that everything will depend on how he's feeling after finishing the Tour on September 20, which is all that's occupying his thoughts for the time being.
As Dutch newspaper the Algemeen Dagblad pointed out on Friday, Dumoulin hasn't raced a time trial since June 2019 at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour de France's mountain time trial on La Planche des Belles Filles on the penultimate stage of the race should give him some indication of what he might be capable of.
"If I do well in that time trial, perhaps I'll suddenly think, 'Why not?'" he said of the prospect of racing the Worlds TT, which takes place over a flat, 31.7km course in Imola, Italy, on September 25. "I've not done many time trials lately – it's not something I've been working on at all – and the one at the Tour will be the first one for some time."
Originally, the men's Worlds time trial was due to take place on September 20 – the same day that the Tour finishes in Paris – and so Dumoulin had ruled out taking part. However, after the venue for the championships was moved to Italy as a result of Swiss government rules preventing them taking place there due to the coronavirus pandemic, the dates of the events also changed, with Imola offering a reduced programme of only the elite men's and women's time trials and road races, and no junior or under-23 events.
"It depends a bit on how I come out of the Tour, but it is an option," Dumoulin told AD.nl. "I'm busy with the Tour, and everything else just kind of happens in the background. Afterwards, we'll see how I feel. Maybe I'll be completely exhausted from the Tour, in which case it'd make no sense to ride the Worlds time trial."
On Friday's stage 13 from Châtel to the Puy Mary, Dumoulin's Jumbo-Visma teammate Roglic was able to extend his overall lead in the yellow jersey, and the Slovenian now sits 44 seconds ahead of UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar and 59 seconds in front of defending Tour champion Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).
"Ineos are also here to win the Tour," Dumoulin told Dutch public broadcaster NOS. "They had to try something, and they did. But in the end, our team and Primoz turned out to be stronger, which was great to have seen today."
Dumoulin finished the stage in 23rd place, 1:10 behind Roglic, having set the pace at the front of the main group going over the penultimate climb of the Col de Neronne. The 29-year-old Dutchman is 13th overall, 4:32 behind his team leader, and ready to continue his work for Roglic with just over a week left of the Tour to race.
