Tom Dumoulin, the Jumbo Visma rider who won the Giro and world TT title during his career, has decided to quit pro cycling with immediate effect.
The Dutch rider had planned to continue racing until the end of the season but after a recent bout of illness - which forced the cancellation of an event being held in his honour - he has decided to call it quits and is now retired.
The 31-year-old had taken time out of pro cycling in early 2021 and when he abruptly announced that move - just after being named in Jumbo Visma's team for the Tour de France - it was unclear if he would return to the sport.
However, his time away appeared to rekindle his love for the sport and he return to competition in June of last year, soon winning the Dutch national TT title and being selected for the Olympics, where he took TT silver.
Advertisement
This year, he abandoned the Giro on stage 14 and after his withdrawal he said when the racing and training load gets bigger, he has been unable to cope and suffers with poor form and “fatigue, aches and injuries” rather than finding any improvement.
He had already confirmed in early June that this year would be his last but today confirmed his retirement was had been brought forward, with immediate effect. He has only raced three times since withdrawing from the Giro on May 21st.
Related News
He competed in the Dutch TT and road race championships - taking 2nd and 38th respectively - in late June. And then he started Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa (1.UWT) on July 30th, but abandoned that race, which looks like it was the last of his career.
“I decided to quit professional cycling with immediate effect," Dumoulin said in a statement. "About two months ago I announced that I would retire as a professional cyclist at the end of the year. During last spring, despite my love for the bike, I noticed that things weren’t going how I wanted.
"I felt that I was ready for a new phase in my life. But, I still had one project on my wishlist to end my career with a bang; the World Championship in Australia. I wanted to tackle that road to the World Championship the way I tackled the road to the Tokyo Olympics.
"With a sense of freedom, on my terms, with the support of the team and with my intrinsic motivation as the main fuel. That’s what brought me back the joy of cycling back then. But I notice that I can’t do it anymore. The tank is empty, the legs feel heavy and the training sessions are not working out as I hoped and I also need to do a good performance and have a good feeling at the World Championship.
"Since my hard crash in training last September, something has broken again. I had to interrupt my efforts to return to my old shape yet again and deal with another disappointment. It was one too many. Even though the farewell didn’t turn out the way I hoped, I look back on my career with incredible pride. I worked hard for it, took a lot of passion and pleasure from it for many years, and delivered brilliant performances.
"I will never forget that. Now it’s time to enjoy other things and be there for the people I love. A big thank you to my team and everyone who supported me during my fantastic career. And a special thank you to my wife, who had my back all these years.”
More to come.
