Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[TheEnoculator]

So ASO,

now it is up to you to give as 100km of TTing in next years Tour. Dumolin really has a Chance of winning then.

Let's hope not, that would be terrible to watch. A guy smashing everyone in the TT and then riding to a power meter to limit losses in the mountains, doesn't make a great spectacle. It would be Indurain or Wiggins all over again. I'd much rather see Dumoulin continue his transformation and improve his climbing even more - taking it to a Froome like level - rather than fixing courses to suit his current strengths.

Okay so you want to see a great athelte transforming into an Alien skelteon. Okay

Well, not especially. I'd like him to improve his climbing to a level where he could stay with a group of favourites on the hardest stages, following attacks, rather than having to just limit his losses. And become more of a protagonist in the mountain stages as well. Not sure why he'd have to turn into an alien skeleton to do that. He hasn't turned into one while improving his climbing so far.

The guy is only 26, so he hasn't matured yet as a GC rider. Heck, this was his first time going for GC in a GT. His climbing will only get better and better. He is a time trialist afterall, and he has never been good with responding to attacks. In another couple of years, he'll be more complete.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

So ASO,

now it is up to you to give as 100km of TTing in next years Tour. Dumolin really has a Chance of winning then.

Why would they? He is not French.

TTing will disappear sooner or later, I guess.

 

[Rollthedice]

A star is born. Welcome to the Grand Tour winners club.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

First time targetting a gt. Beats Quintana and Nibali. Not bad =)

Dutch curse lifted

But how Dutch is Limburg tho

I'm from Limburg, a 100% limburger like Tom. So couldn't be more proud

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Chapeau Tom. See you at TdF next year.

 

[Hugo87]

Class act, finally the dutch curse might be broken after all.

 

[dacooley]

Re: Re:

First time targetting a gt. Beats Quintana and Nibali. Not bad =)

Dutch curse lifted

But how Dutch is Limburg tho

I'm from Limburg, a 100% limburger like Tom. So couldn't be more proud

congrats, D_T! I remember you having not easy time living through terrible kruiswijk's crash last year. but now the dutch curse is finally done and dusted and you have the reason to be happy about your compatriot winning the grand tour.

 

[TheEnoculator]

Now Sunweb is going to have to sign a bunch of climbers to help Dumo. Who will be available at the end of this season?

 

[SoigneurNL]

Major props for Major Tom! Kept his cool, rode like an experienced GC contender. Perhaps should have kept his mouth shut on one of two occasions, but def a great achievement! Great for Dutch cycling after the Dutch curse struck 'a few' times in recent years. Good to see Dutch cycling really coming into its own. Great for Tom! Only 26 years old... he's gonna be around for a couple of years!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Lol after last years Kruijswijk trauma I was devestated for weeks, months. I believed I'd never see the day a Dutch rider could win a GT. But now it happened. I'm over the moon

 

[hfer07]

Re:

Now Sunweb is going to have to sign a bunch of climbers to help Dumo. Who will be available at the end of this season?

I was thinking the same. The cat is out of the bag-Dumo took it to the next level as he's now seen as the next GT winner for the coming 3 week races, but he needs the proper team back up to make it happen.

 

[Ikbengodniet]

Re:

Now Sunweb is going to have to sign a bunch of climbers to help Dumo. Who will be available at the end of this season?

Tejay.

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

[quote=""Jeff"":janqk8us]That Belgian announcer for ES is just horrible.

Some people just dont have a voice for commentary, and he is one of those.

I think he's doing a fine job. Not spectaculair, but a good job.[/quote]They had two very good ones.

Danny Nelissen and one I forgot the name of but he's the agent of Bauke Mollema.

Now we have to deal with this Belgian dude en José Been...[/quote]
Paul d'Hoore was good, too!

 

[carolina]

Re: Re:

Now Sunweb is going to have to sign a bunch of climbers to help Dumo. Who will be available at the end of this season?

Tejay.

Landa

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Now Sunweb is going to have to sign a bunch of climbers to help Dumo. Who will be available at the end of this season?

Sign all the top Dutchmen: Mollema, Kruijswijk, Van Emden...and the guys that helped Dumoulin yesterday: Jungels and Yates.

If Landa is interested...why not him as well?

 

[perico]

Re:

Now Sunweb is going to have to sign a bunch of climbers to help Dumo. Who will be available at the end of this season?

They have Barguil and Kelderman. The former would have to accept domestique duties of course. They only need a couple more really.

 

[carton]

Good for Dumoulin for hanging on despite fading a bit a the end. Great ride by him. Also, nice to have a "pure TT-ist" win a GT, it had been a while.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Where Sunweb go from here is a very big question. The first issue is the degree to which they turn Dumoulin's new prominence into an increased sponsorship income. If they don't get more cash, they can refocus their squad towards GC support but won't be able to substantially improve its quality level. I would guess that they will be able to significantly increase their budget - surely Dumoulin the Giro winning Tour contender must be an attractive association for Dutch (and other) companies.

Lots of money means you can buy in quality riders and pay them to subordinate their own chances. Less money means you can realistically only have a smallish number of riders good enough to harbour leadership aspirations of their own. You have to have leadership positions for them because you can't overpay them to put up with life as a bag carrier.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Remember we had the same talk about Lotto NL building a team around Kruijswijk?

Yes, not gonna happen. Too poor and incapable.

 

[Inquitus]

Re:

Remember we had the same talk about Lotto NL building a team around Kruijswijk?

Yes, not gonna happen. Too poor and incapable.

The big difference is Kruijswijk didn't win a Grand Tour, it would be sponsorship speculation that he might, Tom has won a Grand Tour, so you are backing a proven winner with a Giro to his name, that should count for more?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Remember we had the same talk about Lotto NL building a team around Kruijswijk?

Yes, not gonna happen. Too poor and incapable.

The difference is that Dumoulin won. I would expect him therefore to have much greater prominence among non hardcore cycling fans, which would make him a much more marketable proposition for Dutch companies or companies that do business in the Netherlands. Certainly that's how things work in most countries. I fully agree that team strengthening will be distinctly limited if the team don't manage to use him to get more cash.

The Netherlands is a rich country with a pretty large population and cycling is quite prominent there compared to most places.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Remember we had the same talk about Lotto NL building a team around Kruijswijk?

Yes, not gonna happen. Too poor and incapable.

The big difference is Kruijswijk didn't win a Grand Tour, it would be sponsorship speculation that he might, Tom has won a Grand Tour, so you are backing a proven winner with a Giro to his name, that should count for more?

Beat me to it. A guy who would have won provides an incentive for a team to refocus on supporting him but not the resources to do it. A guy who did win is likely to make the resources available.

 

[Valv.Piti]

A guy who just won also costs a lot more money, so there's that.

Question is if he needs anymore if he is gonna seriously target TdF. I wouldn't bet on Sunweb controlling anything anyways, Sky is there.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

A guy who just won also costs a lot more money, so there's that.

Question is if he needs anymore if he is gonna seriously target TdF. I wouldn't bet on Sunweb controlling anything anyways, Sky is there.

He absolutely needs more. Winning a Giro effectively single handed is a remarkable achievement, but not something anyone can make a habit of unless he's the second coming of Merckx. Now that other teams know that he can do three weeks at the sharp end without crumbling, they will ruthlessly use his isolation against him from day one of every GT.

Dumoulin is the kind of GC rider who would benefit most from a Sky train - a steady one pace climber who often has to pull back accelerations. It was for Wiggins - who as a GT rider was basically a less good Dumoulin - that Sky developed their train of death in the first place. I don't think that Sunweb are likely to have the resources to ape that, but I would expect them to be able to sell him to sponsors and the public well enough to bring in some very good power climbing support.

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin

"I'm really not thinking about my future at the moment. Right now, my future is one big pile of beer tonight"