At this point, after the performance of Van Aert in yesterday's time trial al Tour de France And looking at the Jumbo Visma Olympic derby – with the transnational challenge between Roglic, Dumoulin and Van Aert – curiosity was piqued. Although he is certainly a champion, How will Tom Dumoulin have any real hope of doing well at the Olympics? The Dutchman did not race from October to June. Then è returned to the Tour of Switzerland (opening photo) and then won the national time trial championship, but withdrew from the road race.
The Tokyo time trial is 44,2 kilometers long, with an altitude difference of approximately 846 meters The development of 44,2 kilometers is obtained with two laps of the 22,1 km circuit
The Tokyo time trial is 44,2 kilometers long, with an altitude difference of approximately 846 meters The development of 44,2 kilometers is obtained with two laps of the 22,1 km circuit
Like Dennis
The topic is interesting and once again we turned to Adriano Malori, since we had already dealt with him the eve of the Tour time trialAnd Adriano brings up a concept we had already discussed when it emerged that Dumoulin would be back in the game for the Olympics.
"I think that I'm trying to do like Rohan Dennis at the World Championships in Yorkshire. – he reiterates – or like Cipollini before Zolder. For sure he had the problem of too much pressure and chose to want to distance himselfBut we're talking about a one-off time trial, not the penultimate stage of the Tour. And he certainly left his country to train, otherwise they would have seen him and he would have had a following every day."
He won the 2021 Dutch time trial title at an average of 49.197 seconds and his hopes have taken shape. Tom just won the 2021 national time trial title: for him, a kiss from his wife Thanee
He won the 2021 Dutch time trial title at an average of 49.197 seconds and his hopes have taken shape. Tom just won the 2021 national time trial title: for him, a kiss from his wife Thanee
Seen in Livigno
We tell him that in fact We met him in Livigno, where he stayed in Trepalle, training a lot uphill and then along the tunnels for the works on the plain. Davide Cimolai, which we also met in that corner of Valtellina, he said he found him very relaxed, so much so that the Dutchman invited him for an aperitif.
"He returned to Switzerland," Malori continues, "for his tough time trials. In the first one, he was just outside the top ten, and in the final time trial, he made it into the top five. You can't do a race like the Swiss one, not even with the most daring hopes, if you haven't trained like a beast.If you're determined, you can prepare well for a time trial even without running, if you have the right person behind you. You don't have to train for explosiveness. All it takes is a steep road and you can replicate the work you would do in a race.At high altitude he won't have been able to work at very high intensity, even though in Livigno there is a plain at 1.800 meters and something can be done. For me, he aimed for the appointment and disappearing from the radar was the only way to reduce the expectations.».
Everything studied
To this Add to that the fact that Dumoulin is a top-notch time trialist, already world champion in 2017 in Bergen, not a novice kid.
«I think it was a matter of a controlled break – he says – to train calmly towards a great goal. Something that The team and the federation were aware of this, as demonstrated by the fact that despite his announced retirement, they did not remove him from the Olympic selection.Of course, by doing so he compromised the season and I wouldn't be surprised if he actually stopped. Or in the event of a great result, he could find the motivation to continue».
On the third step
However, the discussion remains open about the difference in condition that the riders returning from the Tour could have.The Tokyo route is tough and offers no concessions..
"If he's trained well," he says, "he's no worse than someone coming off the Tour. To win a time trial like that, you don't need to be strong on the restarts from the corners. The heat won't have much of an impact. I think that Van Aert is the number one favourite anyway. for what he showed. There is a lot of uphill and a lot of downhill, which could allow Ganna to recover, while he will suffer on the uphill. Pippo has prepared the track that gives you so much brilliance, while in Tokyo it will be a question of maintaining a high pace on a less than regular courseYou have to be as fluid as possible. Plus, Pippo weighs 15 kilos more than Van Aert, and while he was in Montichiari, Wout was flattening the Alps. Dumoulin could finish third, right after them».
Too hard
Adriano is keen to make a note about the route. "It's a really tough time trial," he says. "It looks like Rio, and frankly, I can't understand why they design them that way. The time trial is about speed, here the average will be low. For this reason I believe that if he keeps his concentration, It could be a time trial for Pogacar, while Roglic should be watched, but I'm not very sure about him. He'll definitely use a time trial bike, perhaps by fitting a lighter wheel at the front, with a 50mm profile rather than a 90mm, although for this we will have to see how the curves are made. And for the ratios, the most agile could be a 42×27 so that you can easily use the 58×25».
And here the tone drops and the memory goes back.
«It seems like we're reliving the eve of Rio – he says in a low voice – when we went with Cassani to try the routeThen I had to return to Italy, there were no plans to do the Tour de San Luis. Instead I proposed it to Unzue and flew over there, where it all ended.I went from hoping and dreaming of a medal for myself to describing those of others. There's little we can do about it, it's better to laugh about it.. Life goes on anyway."
