Teams & Riders Tom Dumoulin discussion thread

[Red Rick]

TTs in tbe Tour are reduced when top dogs are close in the mountains and long TTs break the GC. They increase when theres a clearer distinction between climbing based and TT based GC riders. Most important in this is the main challenger. Armstrong got the 2009 farce Schleck and Quintana got big mountanious Tours of 2010,2011,2015 and 2016. Wiggins got 2012, and the expected fight between Contador and Froome in 2013 saw a pretty well balanced route. Should Dumoulin get close enough I think he'll see better routes as ASO will likely want to mix up GC dynamics. I don't think he'll get that close though

 

[Pantani1]

Expectant for what he can do.

 

[pastronef]

Expectant for what he can do.

me too, and expectant of what the fans will say

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/tom-dumoulin-bradley-wiggins-showed-me-whats-possible-190234

 

[yaco]

Confirmed Dumoulin will ride the Giro in 2017 - A wise decision as the parcours will give him every opportunity to reach his potential - The TDF is looking light on for GC contenders, especially if Quintana rides the Giro/TDF double.

 

[Red Rick]

Also confirmed he won't even ride the Tour in 2017.

The Dumoulegend continues

 

[Kwibus]

Expectant for what he can do.

me too, and expectant of what the fans will say

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/tom-dumoulin-bradley-wiggins-showed-me-whats-possible-190234

I don't think he's very happy with this after what's come out about Bradley though.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Confirmed Dumoulin will ride the Giro in 2017 - A wise decision as the parcours will give him every opportunity to reach his potential - The TDF is looking light on for GC contenders, especially if Quintana rides the Giro/TDF double.

Kelderman will also ride the Giro with him, so he should have some support in the mountains, at least until we get the obligatory Kelderman crash...

 

[IndianCyclist]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dumoulin-confirmed-for-giro-ditalia-challenge
Very well thought and rational decision . I wish the other "top 5-10" contenders were doing this before deciding that they just want to target the TDF.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well it's a lot more pressure if you want to 'try out' for the GC at the Tour.

I think it's a wise decision. If you can do well on the gruelling Giro climbs and finish high up in the GC, then it confirms the potential. If it doesn't work out, then he knows he might do better focussing back on ITT's and maybe even classics.

It's a great test case / year. If it doesn't work out, he has plenty of time to turn his career back on ITT;s. It's much harder to do like Wiggins and focus on GT's when you're already older. Wiggins succeeded, but many would not.

 

[pastronef]

Tom training in South Africa. I love that

https://www.twitter.com/tom_dumoulin/status/828132549855739908

This place is heaven! Although a broken frame in the plane is keeping my mood down. Hope to get a new one here soon! #southafrica

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

it was as exciting as big Tom D

Each to their own, but Tom certainly isn't "I sit in the bunch all day" material.

I wonder what do you consider exciting about a cyclist?

I liked his performance in the Vuelta even though Astana eventually wore him down as expected.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Hung in the back for the first kilomters of the climb, finished 3rd.
Pretty good test after only training. Looking forward to more of this

 

[Red Rick]

Hung in the back for the first kilomters of the climb, finished 3rd.
Pretty good test after only training. Looking forward to more of this

Yeah. Almost bringing the likes of Zakarin back is definitely a show of good form. PN next?

 

[portugal11]

I have a feeling that he will be the main opponent of quintana in il giro

 

[Valv.Piti]

Considering the field in the Giro this year, Im expecting him to lose a decent amount of time on the hard MTFs early and shift his focus on stage wins, primarily the time trials. A 3rd in frickin Abu Dhabi won't change that. The overall level and depth will be insane in that race - can't be compared to the Vuelta he rode.

I reckon he will do well in T-A or P-N tho if he so chooses to race one of them.

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin, Zakarin and Costa rode a large part of the climb by themselves and on their own pace. Dumoulin basically matched them but started his own (solo) effort later. It all depends on how much room he has to improve this season. He's obviously not gonna challenge Quintana uphill, but he may do surprisingly well.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Dumoulin, Zakarin and Costa rode a large part of the climb by themselves and on their own pace. Dumoulin basically matched them but started his own (solo) effort later. It all depends on how much room he has to improve this season. He's obviously not gonna challenge Quintana uphill, but he may do surprisingly well.

So may 20 other riders with very realistic chances of top-10 and more. Everyone can't do well and Dumoulin as one of the least proven track records in high mountains.

 

[Red Rick]

He's also the one that has never specifically prepared to ride a GT before. He's got a change to make in preparation, and that may help him improve.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Who knows. Unfortunate that the GC-landscape is as it is this year with a completely loaded Giro and and whack TdF-route.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The Giro field of favorites is loaded by big guns but I still think Dumoulin can hold his own. Not against Nibali and Quintana obviously. But the others? in that one Vuelta he only cracked big in the final mountain stage and that was after a very non-specific prepration where he just recovered from his injuries in the tour and did a hasty amateuristic training block just before the Vuelta.

Now he's training specifically for the Giro and for climbing. I think he might surprise you

 

[Climber123]

How many minutes head start does Tom have in the Giro TT's? There is a big surprise waiting for Nibali, Quintana and Aru

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Good 5th in Strade. Though I remain of opinion he didn't ride a smart race. Too much in the reactive, and leading/accelerating in the group when he shouldn't and when everyone stayed relatively easy in the wheels.
Two times he got dropped because he did a big pull on the flatter/downhill sections and swung off right before the climb started, creating a launchpad for the others. And a few other times he dropped back to the group to get other riders to also rotate, and that created a gap which he closed himself in the end..
And the third, a few times when a split occured he panicked and rode back solo. While the others (noticably, Kwiatkowski when he was dropped earlier in the race) kept working together and returned as group.

I feel he wasted a lot of energy in pointless efforts which ultimately cost him in the end.

 

[hfer07]

Dumoulin rode really good today, despite the result. I truly believe Tom can elevate his game to be a complete GC contender whether is week long races or GT

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He says he rode too aggresively and could've ended up higher (probably with Uran/Yates), but the thing was he had to make up time so he chose to attack.

That's good, he could have ended higher, but he chose all or nothing.

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah both are good news to me. Climbing with this crowd should give confidence toward the Giro.