Dumoulin admits miserable spring was his own fault

Before heading off to begin his final preparations for his Giro d'Italia defence, Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) met with the press at Eindhoven airport, where he was blunt in taking the blame for his poor showing in the early season, which started with an unlucky Abu Dhabi Tour, and an unfinished Tirreno-Adriatico.

Before leaving for altitude training in the Sierra Nevada with teammates Sam Oomen and Louis Vervaeke, he says his spring "was bad, partly due to bad luck, partly because I wanted too much, I was not relaxed and did not ride with pleasure, I only had an eye for the result. I just trained too much in the winter," he said according to Limburger.nl.

There was also the pressure of being the Giro champion. "A good result gives you wings for a moment, but then also the expectations, of myself, of everyone, I am announced everywhere as Giro winner and I think I have to live up to that."

ADVERTISEMENT

Plagued by mechanical issues in the Abu Dhabi Tour, Dumoulin admitted to losing his temper. "There was misery with the equipment every day and more than half of what happened was not even on TV. I was sick of it." So sick, in fact, that he threw his bike to the ground in disgust. "I should not have done that, you could see I was not myself."

Things didn't get better in Tirreno-Adriatico, where he started with a cold and then abandoned after crashing several times. That was rock bottom for him and he flew home.

"Then I spent three days at home quietly, worked in the garden and walked with the dog on the Sint-Pietersberg, followed by six hours of training with Bram Tankink and Laurens ten Dam in the Ardennes. We talked about everything, about my under-performance, the spring was a bit disappointing, but I just needed that kick in my ass."

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com