Nat Bromhead
Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin has been ruled out of the Tour de France, the former Giro winner and runner up of last year’sTDF still suffering from an ongoing knee injury.
After a physically challenging run up to the race means the team announced that Dumo is “unable to be in the best possible shape to tackle three hard weeks of racing in France.”
“Throughout various ups and downs, hope prevailed, but the decision is now made to give the 28-year-old the time he needs to recover from what’s been a very difficult period,” reads a statement issued by Team Sunweb.
‘Difficult Lead Up To TDF’
“The last month has been extremely difficult overall, and with the setbacks in the knee recovery,” Dumoulin later said.
“After what happened at the Giro I really wanted to go for it in the Tour, but this week I realised it’s just not realistic for my level to be there in time. I’ve tried so hard to get there but I really have to listen to my body and release myself from chasing an unrealistic goal.”
Team Sunweb will instead be led by Wilco Kelderman. Aussie legend Michael ‘Bling’ Matthews will also be in the line up, the 2017 Green Jersey winner again eager to secure stages at the race of the year.
Chris Froome is also out of the TDF after suffering a sickening crash earlier this month. You can read more about that here.
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