After his retirement at the end of 2022, Tom Dumoulin is now exploring a cycling season away from the bikes. He is involved in commentary, analysis, and perhaps even considering a role in a World Tour team. The Dutch cyclist keeps busy while reflecting on the crucial moments of his career.
Dumoulin spoke on Geraint Thomas’s podcast.
“If you were to ask: if you would want a normal life and not have been a professional cyclist, then I would choose the life of a professional cyclist,” Dumoulin said on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast.
“But I am happy to have left the sport relatively young. The most beautiful feeling you can have as a cyclist. You are constantly chasing that feeling when everything is going well. It’s such a good feeling. It’s something you will never experience again for the rest of your life.”
“Karsten Kroon and Laurens Ten Dam came to visit me once when I was training for the World Championships in Livigno. Karsten saw me training and based on that, he told me it would be my last good season. And he was right,” Dumoulin reveals.
“I simply demanded too much of myself. I chased goal after goal after goal. I didn’t look at anything beyond my own bubble. My mind was only on the next race. I wasn’t even enjoying it anymore, but I was chasing my dreams.”