By @pmpalermo
It is not the first time that Aike Visbeek, formerly Tom Dumoulin’s trainer, has spoken publicly about his famous pupil. And it is not for less, since he went from being at the top of the stage rounds to retiring at the age of 31.
On this occasion, the coach went a little further by stating that the 2018 Tour de France should have been won by Tom and that instead he finished it. “Dumoulin should never have ridden the 2018 Giro and would have won the Tour,” he told De Grote Plaat.
“I was against it but he finally ran it. I remember that discussion. Initially, the focus was the Tour, I don’t know if it was commercial interests but they played a role, and then Sunweb’s manager Rudi Kemna insisted that it was easier to win the Giro”, he narrated.
“If you win the Tour you have a decade of security as a team, the sponsors align. The Giro chapter was closed for me,” continued Visbeek. “I think those two big ones in one year killed Tom. He was the best stage rider in the world in 2017 and 2018, but then he made that effort and, especially in someone like him, it cost him a lot of bookings,” he revealed.
The story agrees with what was seen. After being 1st in the Giro and 2nd in the Tour, Dumoulin began his decline, plagued by physical and psychological problems. It is difficult to say that he would have won the Grande Boucle, but considering the way in which Geraint Thomas – another climbing croner – prevailed, the conjectures certainly fit.
Even so, it cannot be ignored that Tom ran almost alone and that he was runner-up but almost two minutes behind the Welshman. In their favor, it must be said that the first four shared physical qualities (globally) and that the wear and tear suffered in May was brutal, since it is not in vain that it is the most complex double and one that has not been achieved for decades, when the EPO flowed like water .
It’s a pity that Sunweb took another talent (and they go…), because if it hadn’t been left empty by the whim of its directors, Jumbo would have enjoyed a real gem.
A separate paragraph for other vueltomaniacs who, even without having won both, shone by taking one and fighting in the top 10 in the other. It shows a unique head that accompanied its privileged organisms.
Paul Palermo
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