Tom Dumoulin (31) no longer seems like the Dumoulin who won the Tour of Italy in 2017, but the Dutchman still wants to put himself in front of the mirror in this Giro. Will he find his legs from yesteryear? Our analysts had their doubts in De Tribune’s Giro special.
Last year the race flame at Tom Dumoulin started to burn again around this period after a sabbatical period.
The successful return in 2021 with, among other things, silver in the Olympic time trial tasted like more, but 2022 did not have much good in store for the Maastricht citizen.
Dumoulin struggled with his back, missed part of his program due to corona and tackles the Giro with few nobility letters in his suitcase.
“We don’t really have a picture of his level of form”, Renaat Schotte indicates his doubts in De Tribune. “He also has too few time trial kilometers to excel.”
This Giro will be the impetus for the choice to become Tom Dumoulin again or a servant. That would actually be a shame with his talent and charism.
“He is a big question mark”, José De Cauwer kicks in an open door. “Will we ever see the great Dumoulin again? I doubt that.”
“The spring was with ups and downs. I think it will be very difficult.”
“This Giro will be the impetus for the choice to become Tom Dumoulin or a servant again. That would actually be a shame with his talent and charisma. We needed such people.”
Tom Dumoulin won the Giro in 2017 wearing the Sunweb shirt.
“Tobias Foss? It’s still a big step towards the podium”
Jumbo-Visma does not seem to put all its eggs in Tom Dumoulin’s basket. The team puts Tobias Foss (24) and Sam Oomen (26) forward as spare parts.
“They are more than lightning rods after all,” says Renaat Schotte. “Certainly Foss is a classification alternative.”
“Look at last year’s Tour: Jonas Vingegaard did not come out of nowhere, but he was there immediately after the fall of Primoz Roglic. It is very clever how Jumbo-Visma was able to switch then.”
Foss was 9th in the Giro last year. “That was almost 12 minutes. If you have to reduce that number… Towards the podium that is still a very big step,” concludes José De Cauwer.
Norwegian champion Tobias Foss during the winter internship with Tiesj Benoot.
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