Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Quiet day tomorrow, then for stage 5:

UNLEASH THE KRAGHEN

If he can sneak away in a break, perhaps.






(Does he deserve a thread?)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

If he does a good Mur de Bretagne and good Roubaix stage, which I think he will. Thinks suddenly look really nice.

I still think he'll have somewhat of a breakdown in week 3. But he might save an unlikely top 5
I hope for a few days of yellow now. Would be nice 29 years after Breukink

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

If he does a good Mur de Bretagne and good Roubaix stage, which I think he will. Thinks suddenly look really nice.

I still think he'll have somewhat of a breakdown in week 3. But he might save an unlikely top 5
I hope for a few days of yellow now. Would be nice 29 years after Breukink

Why? Everyone expected him, Jungels and Thomas to come out on top after these 9 days. They are the most complete riders on the best TTT-teams. For them to stand a chance in this race, they need to put time into Froomey, Nibali, Porte, Movistar etc. The problem has always been the Alps which are extremely hard and to a lesser extent the Pyrenees.

 

[Red Rick]

Did Dumoulin even recon the cobbles?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Did Dumoulin even recon the cobbles?

Yes, he went there earlier this year.

 

[Robert5091]

Looking good for Tommy D but can he really hang on until the ITT in week 3.
(Edit- speling ... spilling ... spelling!)

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Looking good fro Toomy D but can he really hang on until the ITT in week 3.

The comparison between Froome and Dumoulin in the third week will be interesting to watch.

 

[Jspear]

I think he'll crack hard in the 3rd week. He's a big guy...it's probably going to be harder for him to keep a high high level of form to compete in two consecutive gt's.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

There's two ways to this. You could also say he has got a bigger engine than those small climbers (Quintana) and could diesel it better for 2 GT's.

Besides, he's not that big, he is the same height as Froome and only a few kg heavier. In peak weight between 69-71kg

 

[dacooley]

I presume currently the general level of Dimoulin and Froome is considerably higher than Bardet, Nibali, Landa and other Tour contenders. They are the riders of exclusive quality, so both finishing at top-5 would be rather logical than sensational.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I presume currently the general level of Dimoulin and Froome is considerably higher than Bardet, Nibali, Landa and other Tour contenders. They are the riders of exclusive quality, so both finishing at top-5 would be rather logical than sensational.

Agree, wouldn't be surprised if Dumoulin finished top-5 at all. I still consider Froome to be on a different level, at least when it comes to doing the double. Tom is on uncharted territory.

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

I presume currently the general level of Dimoulin and Froome is considerably higher than Bardet, Nibali, Landa and other Tour contenders. They are the riders of exclusive quality, so both finishing at top-5 would be rather logical than sensational.

Agree, wouldn't be surprised if Dumoulin finished top-5 at all. I still consider Froome to be on a different level, at least when it comes to doing the double. Tom is on uncharted territory.

This. Dimoulin is the best time trialist in the world and somewhere close to Froome at dosing effort and pacing himself uphill. The latter is quite possibly is a key skill in modern high-tech cycling, because wiping out the whole field with a courage of sparkling repeated attacks is getting increasingly harder.

 

[Cinemaniak]

Re:

I think he'll crack hard in the 3rd week. He's a big guy...it's probably going to be harder for him to keep a high high level of form to compete in two consecutive gt's.

The one time iv'e seen Dumoulin crack, was in the last stage of a Vuelta (unprepared!) vs Aru, Quintana, Valverde, Landa, Chaves and Rodriguez. This isn't a guy who's going to crack when he's prepared for a race. His engine is big enough for two GT's, but mentally is more important than physical. So Froome has the advantage in that department, perhaps.

 

[Red Rick]

This typically isn't as much about engine as much as it is about how much base level a rider has. I'm also convinced Quintana messed up somewhere last year and is capable of a way better Giro/Tour double than he did.

 

[oldcrank]

So Tom got a 20 second penalty? If he gained more
than 20 seconds by blatantly drafting his own team car
in full view of the TV cameras, I guess it was good tactics.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

For people who think he wasn't good because he was with Kragh Andersen after the mechanical. Nope.

Dumoulin said he felt good which is why today stunk so bad. He said there was a movement in the peloton and he had nowhere to go so he hit somebody's back wheel (Bardet) and he broke all his spokes. He switched wheels with Geschke and just went from there. No word about the time penalty (but i don't think he was informed at the time of the interview)

 

[JosephK]

Re:

For people who think he wasn't good because he was with Kragh Andersen after the mechanical. Nope.

Dumoulin said he felt good which is why today stunk so bad. He said there was a movement in the peloton and he had nowhere to go so he hit somebody's back wheel (Bardet) and he broke all his spokes. He switched wheels with Geschke and just went from there. No word about the time penalty (but i don't think he was informed at the time of the interview)

I heard somebody found a voodoo doll by the roadside. It had "Dumoulin" scrawled on the forehead and pins stuck in it.

 

[Winnen]

Bad luck. It happens. Now get over it and continue!

His form looks good. But we know that it will be the third week that counts.

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty sure he would've done top 10 if not for the mechanical. Really unfortunate. Now I just hope he'll go well on the cobbles. That massive engine should help.

 

[Baldinger]

Re:

For people who think he wasn't good because he was with Kragh Andersen after the mechanical. Nope.

Why would anyone think that? Kragh Andersen is able to set a massive pace on a hill like that.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

For people who think he wasn't good because he was with Kragh Andersen after the mechanical. Nope.

Why would anyone think that? Kragh Andersen is able to set a massive pace on a hill like that.

Yeah, I really would have liked to see him (Kragh) go for it on that finale. He looked very good yesterday but was positioned badly at the bottom.

 

[Salvarani]

Hopefully he bounce back on Sunday

 

[kiszol]

Re:

For people who think he wasn't good because he was with Kragh Andersen after the mechanical. Nope.

Dumoulin said he felt good which is why today stunk so bad. He said there was a movement in the peloton and he had nowhere to go so he hit somebody's back wheel (Bardet) and he broke all his spokes. He switched wheels with Geschke and just went from there. No word about the time penalty (but i don't think he was informed at the time of the interview)

Maybe he felt good and as he is an honest guy it's probably true but he still conceded 20 seconds on the climb to Dan Martin and even around 15 seconds to a somewhat struggling Froome. Why couldn't he go faster? The headwind? Or the last 3 km was too exhausting for him? It doesn't look very promising for the mountains anyway. I think it's a worrying sign and combined with the quick loss of two of his best helpers (Kelderman and Matthews) and with the 70 seconds (with the penalty) lost yesterday his chances for a good result seems to be very slim now. I hope that I'm wrong on this btw.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

For people who think he wasn't good because he was with Kragh Andersen after the mechanical. Nope.

Dumoulin said he felt good which is why today stunk so bad. He said there was a movement in the peloton and he had nowhere to go so he hit somebody's back wheel (Bardet) and he broke all his spokes. He switched wheels with Geschke and just went from there. No word about the time penalty (but i don't think he was informed at the time of the interview)

Maybe he felt good and as he is an honest guy it's probably true but he still conceded 20 seconds on the climb to Dan Martin and even around 15 seconds to a somewhat struggling Froome. Why couldn't he go faster? The headwind? Or the last 3 km was too exhausting for him? It doesn't look very promising for the mountains anyway. I think it's a worrying sign and combined with the quick loss of two of his best helpers (Kelderman and Matthews) and with the 70 seconds (with the penalty) lost yesterday his chances for a good result seems to be very slim now. I hope that I'm wrong on this btw.

He had already been chasing a bit, which really ruins your climbing time on a short hill.

Do we have an exact number of the time gap at the foot of the hill?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Bardet also lost 30s on the climb. It says nothing. When you reach the climb already in the red you are at a clear disadvantage against people who are in the group. This is normal. It's not some cycling manager game