Tom Dumoulin offers spot-on analysis after doping question is raised around Tadej Pogačar’s dominance

The subject everyone knew would come up after Tadej Pogačar’s raid over the Tourmalet: the D-word. Tom Dumoulin delivered a seamless explanation on De Avondetappe, after fellow guest Leo Alkemade asked him for his thoughts on the supremacy of the Slovenian leader of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

Dumoulin, no ordinary rider himself, explained the difference in much the same way he did after Pogačar’s first Tour de France victory in 2020. Back then, he described Pogačar as “a lumberjack on a bike who rode two minutes away from me in a time trial.” This time, he came up with another comparison: “Pogačar rode up the Tourmalet at 25 kilometres per hour, while I never went faster than 20 kilometres per hour there.” The Slovenian now sits roughly three minutes ahead of his nearest challenger, Jonas Vingegaard, after six days of the Tour de France.

“I think we are simply looking at a super talent,” Dumoulin began, making his position clear from the start. “At the same time, I completely understand that people ask questions, especially given cycling’s past. I understand why those questions come up. Of course, the cycling world has partly brought that on itself in the past.”

“But I absolutely do not want to go down the road of insinuations here,” Dumoulin clarified. “First and foremost, I am watching a cyclist I enjoy enormously. As I was trying to explain earlier with those images of the descents, he is simply a fantastically good rider. I hope everything is completely fair, and for now, that is also what we should assume.”

“There is no reason or evidence whatsoever to suggest otherwise. In the past, that evidence and those signs did exist, but right now there really is nothing,” Dumoulin continued in response to Alkemade. “Of course, we should not all be naive either, but in a way it is also a compliment to him. That you are so good people immediately start thinking along those lines. Again: I understand the question, and I hope I have answered it as well as possible.”

“Sometimes in sport, we try to explain those rare super talents — the ones who come along once every so often — in our own human way. We try to explain why a Messi is so good, but in reality we simply do not understand it,” Dumoulin compared. “That can sometimes create a bit of resistance, especially in the Netherlands. We do not understand it, but above all, we should enjoy it. Every now and then, someone comes along with that kind of enormous mega-talent.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]