Tom Dumoulin ends career with immediate effect

Tom Dumoulin has ended his professional cycling career with immediate effect. 

The former Giro d’Italia winner had previously announced that he intended to retire at the end of the current season with his final race being the World Championships in Australia. However, the Jumbo-Visma rider has now decided to bring his retirement from the sport forward to August. 

In a statement released by his team, the 31-year-old confirmed the news and the reasoning behind his decision. 

The statement read: “I decided to quit professional cycling with immediate effect. About two months ago I announced that I would retire as a professional cyclist at the end of the year. During last spring, despite my love for the bike, I noticed that things weren’t going how I wanted. I felt that I was ready for a new phase in my life. But, I still had one project on my wishlist to end my career with a bang; the World Championship in Australia. 

“I wanted to tackle that road to the World Championship the way I tackled the road to the Tokyo Olympics. With a sense of freedom, on my terms, with the support of the team and with my intrinsic motivation as the main fuel. That’s what brought me back the joy of cycling back then. 

“But I notice that I can’t do it anymore. The tank is empty, the legs feel heavy and the training sessions are not working out as I hoped and I also need to do a good performance and have a good feeling at the World Championship. Since my hard crash in training last September, something has broken again. I had to interrupt my efforts to return to my old shape yet again and deal with another disappointment. 

“It was one too many. Even though the farewell didn’t turn out the way I hoped, I look back on my career with incredible pride. I worked hard for it, took a lot of passion and pleasure from it for many years, and delivered brilliant performances. I will never forget that. Now it’s time to enjoy other things and be there for the people I love. A big thank you to my team and everyone who supported me during my fantastic career. And a special thank you to my wife, who had my back all these years.”

Dumoulin signed for Jumbo-Visma in 2020 after a successful spell which included winning the Italian Grand Tour, as well as the World Time Trial Championship in 2017. Over the winter the 31-year-old then took a break from the sport to focus on his mental health and wellbeing. 

After a brief period away, the Dutch rider returned to take a silver medal at the Olympics in the men’s time trial behind Primož Roglič. 

Other previous career highlights include three individual stages at the Tour de France, four Giro d'Italia stages as well as the 2017 overall victory, two stages at the Vuelta a España and four Dutch National Time Trial Championship titles.

Ahead of the 2022 season he had confirmed that the Giro d’Italia was a major target, although once racing got underway he was unable to build momentum and eventually abandoned the race. 

His last race on the road was the recent Clásica de San Sebastián which was won by Remco Evenepoel. 

General manager of Team Jumbo-Visma Richard Plugge paid tribute to the 31-year-old and said: “We are sorry that Tom is ending his career with immediate effect, but we respect his decision. Tom has meant a lot to cycling fans, both in the Netherlands and worldwide. He can be proud of his career. We wish him all the best for the future.”