Tom Dumoulin

Early life

Dumoulin was born in Maastricht, and grew up in the city near the Maas Boulevard, which used to host the finish of the Amstel Gold Race. Originally his ambition was to study medicine and become a doctor, but after not being offered a place at medical school he began a Health Sciences degree. Dumoulin did not enjoy classes and within a year he opted to pursue cycle racing for a year.

2010–2013

Dumoulin first made an impact in 2010, when he competed at the Grand Prix of Portugal, part of the UCI Under 23 Nations' Cup – Dumoulin won the race's opening time trial, despite never having ridden a time trial bicycle before, and went on to win the race overall. Later that year he won a time trial stage of the Girobio. He was due to ride for Cervélo TestTeam in 2011, however the team disbanded at the end of the 2010 season.

After riding for the Rabobank Continental Team in 2011, Dumoulin turned professional with the Dutch Project 1t4i team in 2012. Although he didn't win any races in his first two seasons as pro, he began to make his mark in major races, especially in time trials. He made his grand tour debut in 2012, riding the Vuelta a España.

2014

In June 2014 Dumoulin won the Dutch National Time Trial Championships. In September 2014 he came in second place at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec after surging ahead on the last climb but being passed by Simon Gerrans. Later that month he took a bronze medal in the UCI World Time Trial Championships, placing third behind Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin in Ponferrada.

2015

Dumoulin started the 2015 season by finishing fourth overall at the Tour Down Under. He took his first success of the season by winning the final individual time trial on the Tour of the Basque Country. His second victory of the year came at the Tour de Suisse, where he won the prologue with a two-second advantage over Fabian Cancellara. He also won the closing stage of that race, a 38.4 km (23.9 mi) time trial he covered at an average speed of 47.407 km/h (29.5 mph). In the Tour de France, Dumoulin was one of the favourites to take victory in the opening time trial on home soil in Utrecht, the Netherlands, but ultimately finished fourth. On stage 3, he was involved in a massive, high-speed crash and had to abandon the race.

Dumoulin recovered from his injuries to ride the Vuelta a España. On stage 2, he attacked on the final climb to Caminito del Rey and formed a group with Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), but was caught and passed by Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE), who won the stage ahead of Dumoulin in second. On stage 5 there was a split in the peloton, and Chaves lost six seconds to Dumoulin, who took the race lead by 1 second. However, Chaves won stage 6 ahead of Dumoulin in third to re-take the leader's red jersey. Stage 9 was another first-category summit finish. There was a series of attacks on the early part of the climb, with many riders dropped from the lead group. Dumoulin eventually took a solo win in the stage, two seconds ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky) and took back the red jersey as Chaves lost significant time. Froome had originally been dropped, but rode at a steady tempo and came close to winning the stage before Dumoulin outsprinted him in the final hundred metres.

After Froome crashed out on stage 11, Dumoulin limited his losses on the following mountain stages, as Fabio Aru (Astana) and Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) traded the race lead. On Stage 17, Dumoulin won the 38.1-kilometre (23.7 mi)-long individual time trial. He gained 1 minute and 53 seconds on Aru to take the red jersey by three seconds over Aru, with Rodríguez now 1 minute and 15 seconds back in third overall after losing over 3 minutes to Dumoulin on the stage. Dumoulin doubled his lead over Aru by gaining three seconds through an attack on stage 19's final cobbled climb, however he lost the race to Aru on stage 20, the Vuelta's last mountain stage, where Aru distanced Dumoulin on the third of the stage's four first-category climbs. Dumoulin lost almost four minutes to Aru and slipped down to sixth place in the general classification. In December 2015, he won the Gerrit Schulte Trophy, the award for the best Dutch cyclist of the year.

2016

He was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia, where he won the opening time trial on home soil in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, to take the maglia rosa. On stage 8, Dumoulin lost the race lead after finishing 38th and losing 1 minute and 10 seconds to Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) in a hilly stage with portions of Strade Bianche race during the stage. He abandoned the race on stage 11.

Dumoulin also rode the Tour de France. He won stage 9 after attacking from a breakaway on the lower slopes of Arcalis in Andorra, and riding up the climb solo in torrential rain. Dumoulin also won stage 13, a 37.5-kilometre (23.3 mi)-long time trial over hilly terrain in windy conditions, by a margin of over a minute to Chris Froome in second place. Despite a broken wrist, he won silver on the Olympics 2016 time trial, after Fabian Cancellara.

2017

Dumoulin's team announced in the winter that he would target the Giro d'Italia, held in May. On Stage 9, Dumoulin finished third on the summit finish at Blockhaus, finishing alongside Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), 24 seconds down on the stage winner and new race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team). Dumoulin then won stage 10, a 39.8 km (25 mi) individual time trial (ITT) from Foligno to Montefalco in a time of 50 minutes 37 seconds to take the overall race lead by 2 minutes and 23 seconds over Quintana. Dumoulin won Stage 14, which featured a mountain top finish at Santuario di Oropa to extend his lead over Quintana by a further 14 seconds. On Stage 16, Dumoulin experienced stomach problems and had to take a comfort break at the foot of the Umbrail Pass; none of the other contenders waited for Dumoulin and he finished more than two minutes down on stage winner Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), keeping his race lead by just 31 seconds over Quintana. Dumoulin defended his lead until the stage 19 mountain finish in Piancavallo, where he crossed the line over a minute behind Quintana, the new race leader. Quintana would put fifteen more seconds into Dumoulin the following day on stage 20. However, Dumoulin's performance on stage 21, a 29-kilometre (18 mi)-long individual time trial in which he finished second, took him from fourth to first place in the general classification, becoming the first Dutch male cyclist to win the Giro and the first to win a Grand Tour since Joop Zoetemelk won the 1980 Tour de France.

As a result of his victory, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Limburgian by Merit. He also received the Honorary Gold Medal of the City of Maastricht.

To finish off his successful season, in September Dumoulin went on to win the 2017 UCI Road World individual time trial Championships in Bergen, Norway, his first individual world championship victory. He also won the earlier World team time trial championships in that event, as part of Team Sunweb.