Suddenly it’s over for Dumoulin

Since Monday evening, a photo of him in pink has been prominently displayed on Tom Dumoulin’s Instagram page. It was taken on May 28, 2017, in Piazza del Duomo in Milan. Dumoulin holds a trophy above his head, the golden confetti swirls around him and the pink jersey he is wearing can take home, because he has just won the Giro d’Italia. The grin on his face is blissful.

It is probably the happiest moment in Dumoulin’s career, who announced on Monday that he would stop cycling with immediate effect. In any case, it was the most defining moment. Because there was a Dumoulin before and a Dumoulin after that Giro victory.

Before that victory, the Dumoulin cycled for fun through the hills of his Limburg native region. He did have talent, but he never dreamed about pink, yellow or red sweaters. Like his father, he wanted to study medicine. It wasn’t until he was drawn by lot that he decided to become a professional cyclist.

Due to his phenomenal stamina, the Maastricht resident then turns out to be an excellent time trialist, one who also likes to seek adventure as a stage privateer. He broke through in 2015 when he won two stages and rode in the red leader’s jersey well into the final week of the Vuelta a España. Uphill he still falls short that big lap, but his potential as a classification rider has been demonstrated.

There are stage wins and pink in the 2016 Giro d’Italia, two stage wins in the Tour de France, and Olympic silver in the time trial in Rio de Janeiro, before Dumoulin writes history in 2017 with his victory in the Giro. He is the first Dutch winner of the Italian round and the third Grand Tour winner that the Netherlands presents after Jan Janssen and Joop Zoetemelk. Dumoulin, who also became world champion in the time trial that year, established himself as one of the biggest names in the peloton.

Dumoulin has trouble with that new role in the years that follow. He is still second in both the Giro and the Tour in 2018, but the high expectations are increasingly playing tricks on him. Everything the candid Limburger says is widely reported. He can’t go anywhere without going unnoticed.

Slowly but surely Dumoulin loses the pleasure of cycling. The low point follows in 2020, when he doubts his own abilities so much that he sacrifices himself as leader in the Tour for a teammate. Crying from the pain, the doubts and the disappointment, he sits on the team bus afterwards. A few months later, he announces that he will temporarily stop cycling.

Tears of joy

It is then unclear whether Dumoulin will ever return, but four months later he is suddenly back to focus on the Olympic time trial in Tokyo. When he gets a surprising silver there, tears flow again, this time of happiness.

Also read this column by Marijn de Vries: Proud Tom

It feeds the hope among cycling enthusiasts and himself that Dumoulin can still return as a round rider. But this year’s Giro ends in a fiasco: he has to dismount in the fourteenth stage due to physical problems.

And now it’s ready for Dumoulin, despite his intention to compete in next month’s World Time Trial Championships in Australia. “The tank is empty and the legs feel heavy,” Dumoulin wrote in his Instagram post. “I notice that I can no longer bear it.”

‘The butterfly of Maastricht’, as Dumoulin was called in his best days, is at peace with it, he said earlier this year in conversation with NRC: „I have shown some pretty nice things as a professional cyclist, but I also had a fantastic time when I was not a pro for four months. So if I’m not sure if I still want it, I’ll stop.”