Tom Dumoulin will retire from professional cycling at the end of this season, the Dutch cyclist announced on Friday.
“I decided that 2022 will be my last year as a professional cyclist,” Dumoulin wrote on Instagram.
“In 2020 I had a very difficult year and at the end of that year I got overtrained and burned out. At the end of 2020, beginning of 2021 I was only a shadow myself and thus decided at the time to take [a] break away from cycling to think about my future.”
“But despite how good it occasionally still was: many times, and especially this year, it has been a frustrating path, at which my body felt tired and still does feel tired. As soon as the load in training or races gets higher, I suffer fatigue, aches, and injuries instead of improving. The effort in training did often not lead to the desired performances. For a while now there has been a disbalance between my 100 percent dedication, everything that I do and sacrifice for my sport, and what I subsequently get out of it in return.
“With a lot of patience and a very cautious approach, I’m convinced that I could get back to my full potential on the bike. But that would be a long and patient road, with no guarantees on success. I choose not to take that road, but to quit my active cycling instead and to take a new and unknown path.”
“I don’t know yet what I want to do after my active cycling career, and I also don’t really want to know at this moment. But I do know that my love for the bike will always keep me connected to the world of cycling one way or another. I’m very curious what the future will hold for me. I feel happy and grateful and I now already look back on my career with a lot of pride.”
Dumoulin says he will target the time trial at the World Championships in Australia later this year, but the remainder of his race schedule – and his post-cycling career plans – are yet to be decided.
