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news
Tom Dumoulin finishes Giro d'Italia 2019 Stage 4 (picture credit Team Sunweb)Tom Dumoulin may miss Tour de France due to knee injury
Tom Dumoulin may join Chris Froome in missing the Tour de France as the Team Sunweb rider struggles to make a full recovery from a knee injury sustained during Stage 4 of last month's Giro d'Italia that led to him abandoning the race the following day.
The Dutch rider struggled in yesterday’s Stage 4 time trial at the Dauphiné, finishing 47 seconds behind stage winner Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma.
Speaking to Eurosport, Dumoulin, who was second overall to Geraint Thomas at last year’s Tour de France, said: "If the knee doesn't improve, or I can't improve the form I have now, then it doesn't make much sense to me [to go to the Tour]."
"I have certainly not closed that book yet, because it has improved in recent weeks," Dumoulin added. "But it's just not going fast enough for me.
"I know that it is not possible at all, realistically speaking, but it frustrates me that I cannot win any races at the moment," he added.
Dumoulin’s knee still has traces of swelling more than a month after the crash in Italy, and he also revealed that it left him with a small shard of metal embedded in his leg.
With Froome out for at least six months due to the fractures sustained in his crash while previewing yesterday's course, his Team Ineos colleague and last year's yellow jersey winner would be the only one of last year's podium finishers to race the Tour de France next month should Dumoulin withdraw.
Other riders considered contenders for the overall include another Team Ineos rider, Egan Bernal, now recovered from the broken collarbone sustained in a training crash that forced him to miss the Giro d'Italia, Movistar's Nairo Quintana, and Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott.
2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali of UAE Team Emirates, second overall at the Giro, has said that he aims to go for stage wins and the polka dot jersey rather than the overall - although it's possible that the absence of Froome and potentially Dumoulin may make him rethink his plans.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Rendel Harris 5 min 38 sec ago
No because, you know, civilisation and that.
- Barraob1 7 min 47 sec ago
Lovely, I hope he takes them to the cleaners. What did they think he do?
- galibiervelo 1 hour 16 min ago
That is class news. Super bikes and vision. Bet there will be no stand at the Taiwan bike show next year! Big luck to all the team
- Hirsute 1 hour 38 min ago
"However, he said that by moving his head around Wilkinson, who was driving at around 20mph, could and should have been in a position to have seen...
- Destroyer666 1 hour 58 min ago
Pretty clearly stated several times in the text that the issue was not related just to his son. And besides, everybody watching the races could see...
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 14 min ago
All Fizik and Selle Italia saddles (though not all their other products) are made in Italy I believe, and their 3D printed models definitely are.
- chrisonabike 2 hours 40 min ago
If you're not on the road with a car, I bet its driver is much less likely to swerve into your space *. Because you're not "in the way"! (Any...
- mdavidford 2 hours 56 min ago
The problem with this argument, though, is that it's just not true....
- Legin 4 hours 50 min ago
The tory party will oppose anything that might restrict their tanks rolling at the next election.
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11 comments
Thanks for that. I googled it and only found Dear Sister, Dear Son and other meanings that had nothing to do with cycling. Afterwards I did think Dipshit? but then BTBS wouldn't use rude words would he!
Director sportif, the person in the car directing the team. Used to be the driver, but not always these days as they have a bit too much to do.
Baffled. What is a DS?
Ban chainrings, they're clearly dangerous. Or maybe have a guard like on shopper bikes.
Before banning c/rings they should ban helmets, discs and more importantly motos and DSs from driving if they are the one who is on the radio and/or handing out stuff from the car.
Of course you don’t want a guy like Tom re-injuring the knee because he came back too soon, but surely there comes a time when the team say to a rider “sorry we pay you a stack to ride, the doctor says you can race, so you’re racing”. I appreciate he may within himself know he can’t win the race, but Sunweb aren’t a one man team.
On another note, it’ll be interesting to see how GT goes without being pushed to the limit by a team mate (Woet Poels now has a massive support role in the mountains), and I truly also believe it’s now or never for Richie Porte. I’m Aussie, and I wish him all the best, but he hasn’t really ever lived up to the hype.
I think more of the teams are accepting their duty of care to a rider, and if they try to pressure him into riding before he's ready, and it causes more damage he's likely to look for a new team, and he's a hot enough ticket that it isn't likely to be that hard for him to move. I think having a piece of metal still in your leg is likely to be more than enough to back his case that he can't ride to his fullest. The team would be better off going on a stage hunting mission rather than taking an under par Dumoulin on the hope that he might improve but in all likelihood would struggle to get in the top 5.
If Quintana can't mount a good challenge for the podium this year, then it really isn't looking likely that he's ever going to get there at the tour. Hopefully the pressure won't be too much for GT, but as you say, this has to be a great chance for Porte, hopefully his quiet start to the season will mean he's fresh for the tour.
Dumoulin is still only 28 years old. He'll probably get his chance.
"Nibali of UAE Team Emirates"
Not *that* team from a hotbed of middle-eastern culture and open-mindedness; the other one from the other one.
Tom did finish 3rd, which isn't that bad. His high standards I suppose. He is recovering after all.
Would open up the field of the TdF, can G step up. Makes it all the more exciting. Though I was looking forward to the team politics within Ineos.
Nibali could take advantage. I wonder if the weather will improve, he did ride like a demon on that wet cobbled stage when he took a lot of time out of his rivals back in 14.
Will certainly be less predictable.
Sorry but every time I think of Nibali I can’t get past Vuelta and that tow...