Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[movingtarget]

Re:

Something about a saddle sore too. I hope he can have a good showing tomorrow and use the rest day well.

If he has a saddle sore then it's not going to improve by tomorrow. I guess questions have been answered regarding Dumoulin and the overall but it was not an absolute disaster. If he manages a good TT he is still there but the big mountains would have to be a worry for him.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Something about a saddle sore too. I hope he can have a good showing tomorrow and use the rest day well.

He didn't know. He has a saddle sore, but he added that the day before it was a lot worse.
He just wasn't able to push the watts. So he's either getting ill or allready emptied his tank too much. Maybe a hunger knock, but then he should know I guess.

It's a shame he dropped yesterday. I much preferred him having 2 minutes on the favourites and then the favourites had to attack hard in the mountain. I think it would've been rather fast when he would be dropped, but still....

 

[HelloDolly]

It is obvious to me that Dumoulin was not prepared well enough for yesterday ...So when Valverde attacked he tried to respond but blew and then had to ride within himself to the end...

He did say before the stage that he thought it would not cause him any problems as he had ridden very well in Strade Bianche

I have never thought Dumoulin a GT contender becasue he cannot climb with the top climbers in the high mountains. And I t think no matter what he does this will not change . The competition is too strong nowadays compared to the days of Indurain

But he can wear all the GT jerseys as he is such a good TTer, can win multiple stages and world and Olympic titles in TT. He can even win stage races with a big TT element and not much high mountains

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

It is obvious to me that Dumoulin was not prepared well enough for yesterday ...So when Valverde attacked he tried to respond but blew and then had to ride within himself to the end...

He did say before the stage that he thought it would not cause him any problems as he had ridden very well in Strade Bianche

I have never thought Dumoulin a GT contender becasue he cannot climb with the top climbers in the high mountains. And I t think no matter what he does this will not change . The competition is too strong nowadays compared to the days of Indurain

But he can wear all the GT jerseys as he is such a good TTer, can win multiple stages and world and Olympic titles in TT. He can even win stage races with a big TT element and not much high mountains

100% agree. A course like Wiggo got in the TdF certainly gives him a chance in the future, but normally when there are enough and hard mountain stages he will never win a GT, but he will certainly win a lot. Carry a lot of leaders jerseys etc.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

It is obvious to me that Dumoulin was not prepared well enough for yesterday ...So when Valverde attacked he tried to respond but blew and then had to ride within himself to the end...

He did say before the stage that he thought it would not cause him any problems as he had ridden very well in Strade Bianche

I have never thought Dumoulin a GT contender becasue he cannot climb with the top climbers in the high mountains. And I t think no matter what he does this will not change . The competition is too strong nowadays compared to the days of Indurain

But he can wear all the GT jerseys as he is such a good TTer, can win multiple stages and world and Olympic titles in TT. He can even win stage races with a big TT element and not much high mountains

100% agree. A course like Wiggo got in the TdF certainly gives him a chance in the future, but normally when there are enough and hard mountain stages he will never win a GT, but he will certainly win a lot. Carry a lot of leaders jerseys etc.

I would not be so sure. We won't know unless he decides to try a couple of times. To me he's shown a few abilities that Wiggins never showed. He's not your typical TT'er turned GC rider who tt's his way up the mountain (true to a degree) and for whom the shallow, grinding climbs are the best. He's shown the ability to attack and drop competitors on stages that suit him, without having a team so strong they're half the peloton on the final climb.

Dumoulin, unlike other TT'ers turned GC riders, is actually quite explosive and very good at short efforts. However, I think endurance is more his problem than simply being a TT'er who is too heavy. He's said multiple times about some of his best efforts that they're still below his best training values, and they still don't know why.

He held his own last year in Andorra, and lost less than half a minute on that brutal stage in Asturias. All that without specific preperation for riding a GC. If he gets a little stronger, I definitely think he can win GTs with the right preparation, parcours, team and competition.

Also, I wouldn't be entirely sure the Tour would be his best chance of winning.

In any case, Dumoulin has so many qualities that he can be picky in what he aims for. I at least hope he can get his endurance somewhat better, so he can be a genuine 1 day contender

 

[movingtarget]

The guy is still young. He will never be a pure climber but his climbing can still improve and his strength over three weeks. It takes some riders a long time to master a grand tour and the three week duration and some never do but I am more positive about someone like Dumoulin than others that have failed in the past. In the Vuelta he showed he can climb and even out climb some of the really good climbers but to do it over three weeks against a much stronger team like Astana was too hard. Still it was an admirable effort.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Can Dumoulin become the new Jan Ullrich?

Physically, not mentally, of course.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Can Dumoulin become the new Jan Ullrich?

Physically, not mentally, of course.

Why would you want him to weigh 80 kg?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Re:

Can Dumoulin become the new Jan Ullrich?

Physically, not mentally, of course.

no, never. ullrich had so much talent. he was already one of the best climbers at age 22 (2nd in the tour 96), let alone timetrials. a monster in every way.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

Can Dumoulin become the new Jan Ullrich?

Physically, not mentally, of course.

no, never. ullrich had so much talent. he was already one of the best climbers at age 22 (2nd in the tour 96), let alone timetrials. a monster in every way.

I miss Ullrich.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

the saddle sore seems to get worse as Dumoulin says it has to get better or he sees no point to continue.

He says he will not go for it the coming stages. Hopes to recover and then go for a stage win later in the tour

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin is butthurt

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin is still butthurt, he said in an interview that it wasn't much worse than in the TT, but that it certainly wasn't any better. If it doesn't imporve, he's gonna abandon before the week is over, and he may even DNS tomorrow

 

[jmdirt]

The third testes takes its toll...TD going home.

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin now officially has too much balls

 

[patrick767]

I'm admittedly ignorant on the nitty-gritty details of the suffering that long days on the bike for weeks on end can take on the body, but I'm kind of shocked that with all the advances in modern gear and treatments, saddle sores are still something that can take a top contender out of a GT. Does it mean the rider probably wasn't vigilant enough in preventing it and/or treating it early? Or is it just something that still happens once in awhile even to the best riders no matter how careful they are?

 

[SeriousSam]

It's a profound problem, and to my knowledge, the doctors that know how to treat saddle sores correctly (eg Geert Leinders) are very rare. Apparently.

 

[classicomano]

Well this is a bit of a downer. Now its off to double altitude camps and the Tour de Pologne.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Well this is a bit of a downer. Now its off to double altitude camps and the Tour de Pologne.

After a dumoulin downer usually comes something positive that ends on a down again though.

So he wins Pologne to fail on the Olympica

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

I'm admittedly ignorant on the nitty-gritty details of the suffering that long days on the bike for weeks on end can take on the body, but I'm kind of shocked that with all the advances in modern gear and treatments, saddle sores are still something that can take a top contender out of a GT. Does it mean the rider probably wasn't vigilant enough in preventing it and/or treating it early? Or is it just something that still happens once in awhile even to the best riders no matter how careful they are?

Clogged pores, inflamed hair follicles, and bacteria still exists in the modern world. It happens more than we read/hear about it. If TD was just a team slave we wouldn't know about his taint issue. I kept having an issue with a third testes no matter how well I pre-cleaned, lubed, post cleaned, treated, padded, adjusted... I finally went to a dermatologist who removed a sebaceous cyst. He said that the infection was never enough to get a full immune response so it never completely went away, He explained that your body constantly has little "irritations" around pores and follicles, but you don't notice them. That is unless you are sitting on one for 2-8 hours a day. One of those little irritations can quickly become an issue. Obviously just like anything else, everyone is different as far as how these irritation occur and how our bodies deal with them.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Well this is a bit of a downer. Now its off to double altitude camps and the Tour de Pologne.

After a dumoulin downer usually comes something positive that ends on a down again though.

So he wins Pologne to fail on the Olympica

He'll win the Olympic road race, only to get 4th on the TT

 

[Vesica]

No, Poels will win the RR

on topic: Most logical route will be via Poland.

 

[lenric]

Now Dumoulin can only *** if he's on top. Too bad for cowgirl fans.

 

[WillemS]

Dumoulin will start in the Tour

Don't know how I feel about that.

They claim the main focus is still the Olympics:

With regard to Dumoulin’s road to the Olympics, Helmantel said: “We designed our plan based on a closer analysis of Tom’s physiological output from the Giro. For now it looks ideal to combine specific training, selected rest periods and an altitude camp with the Dutch championships in June and the Tour de France in July. In terms of a physiological buildup we’ve identified this as the ideal calendar for Tom’s middle block of the season, which ends with Rio as a highlighted goal. We’ll keep monitoring at every step, and the analysis of his training sessions in June will be the crucial factor in assessing whether we can stick with this plan.”

Dumoulin added: “We fine-tuned our plan based on the Giro d’Italia. We concluded that with having finished 10 stages in the Giro, a combination of specific training, an altitude camp, the Dutch championships and the Tour de France looks the optimal plan for preparing for Rio.”

 

[liamito]

Re:

Dumoulin will start in the Tour

Don't know how I feel about that.

With all these crashes at the Tour, you'd think that would be enough reason to skip this race. Most certainly after his 2015 experience.

Many people believe Tony Martin lost his gold medal in 2012 because of his TDF injury.