Tom Dumoulin rebounded from a tough penultimate climb to limit his losses against the pink jersey in the Giro, eventually powering through to take 3rd place on stage 15.
“I don’t give a damn at this point. I’m totally fucked now,” Dumoulin said. “I had to dig so deep to stay with those five other riders after Yates’ attack, and in the end, it didn’t even matter because everybody there was just taking the piss”.
“If I had immediately started riding by myself, I would have lost a lot less time on Yates. Because of them taking the piss I lost a lot more. Anyway, I did the best I could today. Yates was just way too strong.
“Pinot worked a little bit with me. Pozzovivo did some short pulls. But, ah, I can understand them, obviously. That’s cycling. That’s what makes the sport so beautiful. But I had to adjust my tactics. Which I did. I thought, if I just time trial, then I’ll be faster at the finish than if I stay here, fooling around with those other guys.”
“He’s in such great shape maybe he can also do a really, really good time trial,” Dumoulin said of Yates. “We just have to see. I will give everything on Tuesday and then I will see. But even if I have an excellent TT and he doesn’t, and even if I take the lead, he’s just riding away from us whenever he wants [in the mountains] so it’s going to be very difficult.
“I’m very happy and satisfied with my shape and where I’m at now. I’ll probably not win this Giro d’Italia, but I’ve still proved every day that I belong in this select company of GC riders. I hope I can keep fighting until Rome and we’ll see what it gives.”
