This season has been billed as a breakthrough year for Tom Dumoulin but, as the Giant-Alpecin rider points out to Cyclingnews, he has made incremental improvements each year since turning pro and nothing – not even Grand Tour pressure – is going to disrupt his path to the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
After a long season Dumoulin is enjoying a few weeks away from the spotlight and the furore that his fifth place in the Vuelta a Espana created. It was certainly an impressive performance from the 24-year-old, who until then had been pigeonholed as a capable one-day and week-long rider with an excellent time trial. Few saw his Vuelta performance coming, least of all Dumoulin himself, who had crashed out of the Tour de France the month before and spent several weeks out of competition. And although he cracked and lost the race on the final mountain stage in Spain, he has been tipped as a rider with a Grand Tour future, and even likened to Bradley Wiggins and Miguel Indurain.
“They say that every year about me, that I’ve had a breakthrough season and now they’re saying it again,” Dumoulin tells Cyclingnews.
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“It means I’m still making huge steps, which is a good thing, and I’m happy about it. I’ve worked hard for it.”
Giant-Alpecin, the team that have developed Dumoulin since he joined the professional ranks in 2012, have provided the environment for a number of talented riders to flourish. In Dumoulin’s case he has moved up the ranks in the time trials and now sits alongside Tony Martin, Fabian Cancellara, and Rohan Dennis when considering chrono specialists.
It’s not just nature that’s provided Dumoulin with the right development; nurture has been crucial too, with this year’s Tour de France almost a blessing in disguise. Had it not been for the first week crash and subsequent abandon, it’s unlikely that Dumoulin would have ridden the Vuelta or, at the very least, started it with such determination and desire.
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