Tom Dumoulin Retires
Tom Dumoulin has retired from professional cycling with immediate effect. The former World Champion and Giro d’Italia winner had intended to retire at the end of the season, after targeting the World Championships.
However, his love for the sport has been tenuous for several years, and has already resulted in him taking a hiatus. With training not going to plan and an injury from a crash still affecting him, he has decided to call it a day.
Chapeau, Tom. Do something you love.
Tom Dumoulin’s Statement:
I decided to quit professional cycling with immediate effect. 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.