World Championships - Tom Dumoulin: More was simply not possible today
Sep 27 2018 03:29 am CET
Photo of Tom Dumoulin (c) Team Sunweb
Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands) finished in the second position of the individual time trial at the World Championships of Innsbruck. Despite taking the silver medal, it was a disappointing day for the rider.
Dumoulin finished one minute and 21 seconds behind the new ITT World Champion Rohan Dennis and less than a second ahead of Belgium's Victor Campenaerts. "Today didn’t go well and I was some way off my top level," said the rider after the competition.
"It didn’t go smoothly and my body cramped. I wanted it really bad, but more was simply not possible today. It’s disappointing that I couldn’t reach my top level."
The Dutchman did everything he could to try to equal the outstanding performance of Dennis. "I am very stubborn and that is why it worked," Dumoulin commented to Dutch broadcaster NOS. "When I want things very much, then I can push myself to great levels.
"I can only beat a Dennis in top shape when I am in top form myself and the course suits me. The top form was not there today."
It has been a long season for the rider, who finished in the second position of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. "Maybe it has been too much," he explained. "But if you don't try it, you don't know. You begin to feel the end of the season. Maybe the team time trial of last Sunday was just too much of an effort."
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