Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

I'd translate what Dumoulin said in his interviews, but it's not exactly nice. He was competely pissed.

That would interest me too. I understand he said Mollema did nothing but wheel suck.

Given that Mollema was dropped despite "wheelsucking", it's an odd thing to whine about. It's not as if Mollema was actually super strong, sat on Tom's wheel and then mugged him with a big attack. Mollema was on his limit and held on as long as he could.

Dutchies moaning about each other? Reminds me a bit of their 70s football team

And their 80's, 90's, 00's and so on...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I'm really afraid that Dumoulin has lost his whole TT strength due to his transformation and doesn't even take the pink jersey tomorrow. That would be so frustrating

I think not.

What convinced me was the fact he said he is at the same weight he was at Vuelta 2015 (blasted the TT there). And also that he had no TT training prior to Tirreno, and then realized he needs it to keep up form in TT's. He did so before this race. I figure he'll be fine.

If he's anything near Tour 2016 TT level then be very afraid.

I only hope the possible pink jersey isn't a poisoned gift for him. He'll be the marked man to attack and be in exactly the same situation as Vuelta 2015. Certainly without Kelderman he'll have to do a lot alone.

 

[Netserk]

It's a major advantage for him that there's still 30km of flat ITT after the mountains, so he doesn't have to defend pink the whole last week.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

I really think dumoulin will be the only threat to nairo. Guys, this man is very similar to froome, for the first time he focused on a gt, making trains at altitude, he dropped some weight. A cyborg will born tomorrow, mark my words!!!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Today Dumoulin said he has no doubts about his time trial. He said he doesn't know if he will win, but says he will be right up there. He said he is much more confident about his time trial tomorrow then he was of his climbing on Blockhaus before the stage. Before the Tirreno they didn't invest much in TT training and now he did. He is confident he will do well.

 

[portugal11]

3 minutes on nairo. You read here first

 

[offbyone]

I think normally Dumoulin would take minutes on the contenders. However, naturally, he can't be one of the top 5 climbers in the tour and also dominate the time trial to that extent. Slimming down like that had to take power from him.

 

[Ikbengodniet]

Great masterclass today by Tom. Hope his team can defend the jersey somehow. Preidler seems in decent shape, LTD will give his absolute best but Kelderman is a major loss though.

 

[del1962]

Chapeau Tom

 

[Juan Pelota]

Is he going to ride Le Tour this year?

 

[lenric]

So... with one ITT left, a flat one, I'd say chances are that Tom will take this Giro, unless he cracks badly.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

3 minutes on nairo. You read here first

I'm a genious

 

[SafeBet]

Such a beauty on the bike, chapeau.

I'd hate to be a Sunweb domestique now though.

 

[Netserk]

What a bloodbath today; he slaughtered them!

 

[Arked]

He is on his way to win Giro. I seriously doubt he will crack that bad. Other favorites will have to go nuclear now and do some long range attack. Otherwise they can just ride for 2nd place.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

So... with one ITT left, a flat one, I'd say chances are that Tom will take this Giro, unless he cracks badly.

Well he's still up against the best climber in the world (sorry Froome fans), with the strongest team in the race against him as well.

So.. yeah. And don't count out Thomas doing crazy things from afar either which could help Quintana.

 

[Jagartrott]

So, what do we know of his capacities above 2000 m? Nibali and Quintana are both strong at high altitude.
His major disadvantage seems the lack of a strong team, with Kelderman out.

 

[DBotero]

Re: Re:

So... with one ITT left, a flat one, I'd say chances are that Tom will take this Giro, unless he cracks badly.

Well he's still up against the best climber in the world (sorry Froome fans), with the strongest team in the race against him as well.

So.. yeah. And don't count out Thomas doing crazy things from afar either which could help Quintana.

How about Dumoulin jumping on the Sky train and let Quintana in the dust if the opportunity arises :lol:

 

[Arked]

So, what do we know of his capacities above 2000 m? Nibali and Quintana are both strong at high altitude.
His major disadvantage seems the lack of a strong team, with Kelderman out.

What we know is that he has trained this aspect specifically. We also know that he was decent in Andorra stage at 2015 Vuelta.

Lack of Sunweb fire power is indeed his main concern.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

So, what do we know of his capacities above 2000 m? Nibali and Quintana are both strong at high altitude.
His major disadvantage seems the lack of a strong team, with Kelderman out.

Well, he has been at high altitude in South Africa in the winter and then he spent nearly the entire april month on El Teide. So he should be good.

I say should be. We're yet to find out.

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

So... with one ITT left, a flat one, I'd say chances are that Tom will take this Giro, unless he cracks badly.

Agreed. Amazing performance today. On Blockhaus he showed he has great climbing form and the next day proves he has lost none of his TT strength. With the hardest climb done and dusted and another flatter TT to come it looks like Dumoulin's Giro to lose. The race has come alive as Tom's rivals have no alternative but to attack. Dumurain?

 

[lenric]

Well, he won't be worse for sure. I believe he will be ok in high altitude. The question that remains is if he'll be ok no matter how the weather will be. If it still is dry then I'm optimistic.

 

[movingtarget]

Great performance. It's all about his climbing form now and minimizing his losses.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

When I see the result, it’s pretty good, eh? I was fighting with myself. I actually didn’t have a good feeling but apparently it was really fast. A lot of the GC riders didn’t have a good feeling. In my last TT’s I gave up a little bit when I wasn’t feeling good, and then I was always disappointed after. Now I thought ‘I don’t give up, I go full to the line’, and it was more than enough.

-

So that was a bad day?

 

[Red Rick]

Absolutely huge today and on Sunday.

Not only because of this Giro, but because he's a very legit contender for Grand Tours from now on. And my big favorite for the ITT in Bergen.