Looking Back at Tom Dumoulin's Successful 11-Year Career.
Tom Dumoulin, the 2017 Giro d'Italia winner and Olympic silver medalist, has announced his retirement from professional cycling.
The 29-year-old Dutchman made the announcement, saying that he had been struggling with his form since a crash in training last September. "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."
Dumoulin added that he had been hoping to end his career with a strong performance at this month's world championships in Australia but that he now realized he was not up to the task.
Dumoulin rode the Tour an amazing 6 times, and here in 2018 finished 2nd in the General Classification.
In 2010, Tom Dumoulin made an impact at the Grand Prix du Portugal when he won the race's opening time trial. This was despite never having ridden a time trial bicycle before. He went on to win the U23 race overall. Later that year he won a time trial stage of the Girobio. In 2011, he had a brief stint riding for the Rabobank Continental Team before turning professional in 2012.
Tom Dumoulin turned professional in 2012 and made his grand tour debut in the Vuelta a España. In 2014, he won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships and took a bronze medal in the UCI World Time Trial Championships. In 2015, he won the Tour de Suisse prologue and Stage 9 of the Vuelta a España. He also won Stage 13 of the 2016 Tour de France. Dumoulin's biggest victory to date came in 2017 when he became the first Dutch male cyclist to win a Grand Tour by taking home the Giro d'Italia trophy. He also won September's individual time trial at the World Championships in Bergen, Norway.
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) was considered one of the favourites for overall victory at the 2018 edition of the race. He took the race leader's Maglia Rosa for the third year in a row after winning the opening 9.7-kilometre (6.0-mile) individual time trial in Jerusalem, but lost the lead to Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) on Stage 2. Simon Yates (Mitchelton–Scott) then took over as race leader after attacking from the group of favourites 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) from the summit of Mount Etna on Stage 6, and went on to win stages 9 and 11. Dumoulin remained in second place overall behind Yates until Stage 14, when he dropped to fourth after finishing second behind solo winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) on Monte Zoncolan. On Stage 18 to Prato Nevoso, Yates appeared to crack and lost 28 seconds to Dumoulin and Froome, reducing Yates' overall lead over Dumoulin to 56 seconds going into stage 19 – a 34.2-kilometre (21.3-mile) individual time trial from Trento to Rovereto which Dumoulin won by 2 seconds, taking over as virtual race leader with only one stage remaining However, Froome attacked with 80 kilometres (50 miles) left of stage 19 and went on to take both the stage victory and the overall race lead, eventually finishing 40 seconds ahead of Dumoulin in second place.
The 2017 Giro d'Italia winner and current world time trial champion, has announced his immediate retirement. Dumoulin made the announcement via social media, saying that he had "decided to call it a career" after more than a decade as a professional cyclist. The Dutchman has enjoyed a decorated career thus far, winning stage races such as the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, as well as one-day classics like Milan–San Remo. He is also a two-time world champion in the individual time trial discipline.
In recent years, Dumoulin has been hampered by injuries, most notably when he was forced to abandon the 2019 Tour de France while leading the overall classification. However, he bounced back strong in 2020 with an Olympic silver medal in the individual time trial event. Dumoulin finished his 2021 season early after being hit by a motorist during training but came back strong in stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia which he fought to win alongside teammate Koen Bouwman.
Dumoulin has left a legacy in the sport, and his retirement has made headlines all across the globe.