Tom Dumoulin still not ready for intensive training

Tom Dumoulin is still not able to train intensively after a painful crash at the Giro d’Italia.

The Dutchman was forced to abandon the Italian Grand Tour after he suffered a wound to his knee during a fall on stage four.

After the disappointment, Dumoulin turned his attention to preparation for the Tour de France but was forced to skip the race as the injury persisted.

On Thursday (July 11) his Sunweb team released an update on Dumoulin, saying his recovery was on-going and he had yet to make a full recovery.

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Team physician Anko Boelens said: “As we all know Tom crashed hard in the Giro and the impact caused several different injuries to his bone, tendon, cartilage and soft tissue within his knee.

“We closely monitored the injuries via MRI cans and step-by-step, together with Tom, determined the optimum between rest, training and treatment.

“At the moment, the tendon is the limiting factor.

“For the last three weeks, the focus on making it to the Tour de France has been shifted to a focus on full recovery and that will continue to be the case in the next period.”

The team added that Dumoulin can currently do easy rides but not intensive training, and that he will not set any goals until he can fully resume training.

Dumoulin spent a week off the bike after abandoning the Giro, and returned to racing at the Critérium du Dauphiné where he still suffered with the damage to the joint and he was forced to abandon. His recovery was slow, forcing the 28-year-old to skip the Tour de France 2019.

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Rumours began to circulate that the injury had caused a rift between the 2017 Giro d’Italia winner and Sunweb team management.

Reports suggested Dumoulin could be tempted away from the German team to join Jumbo-Visma, but he then said a transfer was “out of the question.

He was expected to focus his attentions on the Vuelta a España, but the on-going issues with his knee have now thrown that into doubt.