Injured Dutchman in race against time to regain form for July.
Tom Dumoulin rode a fairly light early-season this year, with only 16 race days up to May. But with a Giro-Tour double to attempt, it was a reasoned strategy.
“It’s better to be mentally fresh,” he said in the weeks approaching the Giro d’Italia. A great plan, all the way up to stage four, where the Dutchman’s race effectively ended, disastrously, after he was caught up in the crash that injured his knee. He abandoned in the rain the following day, having ridden just 1.5km of stage five.
So what now for the Sunweb rider? Can he really challenge for Tour de France victory after missing such a key block of racing and conditioning? Dan Fleeman of Dig Deep Coaching thinks it’s still possible, but it won’t be easy.
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