Tom Dumoulin has been forced to end his season due to injuries sustained in a training crash, where he was hit by a driver.
The Dutch Jumbo-Visma rider had been building towards the World Championships in Flanders later this month, but has now had to pull out due to a broken scaphoid, a bone in the wrist, on his right hand.
Dumoulin was out on a recon of his own sportive called Tour de Dumoulin, which is scheduled to take place on October 3 in the Ardennes region of the Netherlands, when he was struck by a car with him hitting the road hard afterwards.
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Dumoulin said: "This is a big disappointment. My season is finished. That’s a big disappointment, because I just got really good at it again. Also, during the training today I felt really strong. I had a lot of confidence that I could ride a very strong month."
Dumoulin took a break from riding his bike all together at the start of the season for his mental wellbeing and to decide if he wanted to continue his career in the peloton.
He decided to return to racing with his team at the Tour de Suisse in mid-June where he put in a very solid display including a top five in a mountainous time trial before heading home and winning his national time trial title.
Dumoulin was scheduled to ride the World Championships and then the Italian Classics finishing with the Monument of Il Lombardia.
"I was really looking forward to that. Those are races that suit me very well, but unfortunately it won’t be for this year," said the 30-year-old.
Dumoulin had just finished racing at the Benelux Tour where he finished ninth overall managing a top 10 in three stages with a third place on the final stage behind Bahrain Victorious duo of Matej Mohorič and eventual overall winner Sonny Colbrelli.
He will be going into surgery as soon as tomorrow morning (September 11).
