Tudor riders ready for Grand Tour debut at the Giro: “We will miss Arvid, but now it is our turn to step up”

Pluimers finished in the second group at Eschborn-Frankfurt, but more importantly, he got some valuable race kilometers in the legs. “After an altitude camp it is always a bit of a question mark. This was actually the first time I raced so soon after coming down from altitude, so I did not really know what to expect.”

Still, he was happy to be back racing in Western Europe. “It felt like a long time away. After the Tour of Flanders I was home for five days and then went straight to Sierra Nevada. That was tough,” he admitted. “But the team supported me really well. I was there the first week with Florian, Larry and Michael,” referring to Stork, Warbasse and Storer.

“When those guys left for the Tour of the Alps, I was the only Tudor rider still at altitude. I spent the last week with just a soigneur, though my girlfriend came for a week too. It actually went by pretty fast, but I was happy to be back.”

Marc Hirschi is also expected to be on the Giro start list, although the full lineup has not yet been confirmed. “We will definitely miss Arvid de Kleijn, who was originally supposed to be part of the team,” said Pluimers, referring to the Dutch sprinter who broke his collarbone in a heavy crash at the UAE Tour. That leaves two Dutch riders in the mix, Pluimers and Maikel Zijlaard. “I think it just means we each move up one spot, similar to what happened at Tirreno-Adriatico. Maikel can go for his chances in the flatter stages and I will get my shot in the harder ones that end in a sprint.”

Pluimers also realizes there may be an extra task waiting for him. “With Michael Storer we also have someone who can go for the general classification, so I think we will have a goal every day. I was on the altitude camp with Michael and he is a very calm guy. Just a good person to have around. And if you look at what he did at the Tour of the Alps, that gives us a lot of confidence,” said the Dutchman about the winner of the Giro tune-up race.

Exactly how far the Australian can go in the GC is anyone’s guess. “But it does give us daily motivation. Last year Michael also went to the Giro without a plan to ride for GC and still ended up in the top ten. That is something he is absolutely capable of doing again.”