If you were hoping to see Tom Dumoulin taking on some of the best climbers in this year's Giro d'Italia, you must quickly find yourself another hero. With the opening time trial in Apeldoorn and much longer one in Chianti it's perfectly possible we'll get to see the handsome Dutchman clad in pink, but when it comes to choosing between GC and Olympic ambitions, he clearly prefers gold.

“I will be definitely Tom the Chrono Man in 2016 and not Tom the GC Man,” Dumoulin said, according to Cyclingnews.

Nearly no one expected the Giant-Alpecin rider to turn himself into a serious Grand Tour contender so quickly, and last year's Vuelta a Espana certainly changed the way we see the 25-year old Dutchman now. It seemed perfectly reasonable to think that Dumoulin – encouraged by that impressive performance – would like test himself against some of the best climbers again in the Giro d'Italia, but it's not going to happen this season.

“If I’m still there in GC after stage 9 and the time trial, then obviously I won’t give it away but we’ll have to see what the shape will be,” said Dumoulin

Despite his surprisingly fast transformation from a roleur and week-long stage races specialist to Grand Tour contender, Dumoulin insists on sticking to his initial long-team plan for his career's development. It means that the Dutchman will play a role of a chrono man this year, with ITT event at the Olympics being his biggest objective.

“We will postpone that for one more year. It came so suddenly the Vuelta. It was a nice experience, it was very special. But I’m afraid to go with the flow and be the big GC man who always goes for GC. That was never the plan. When I started with this team we had a plan to make little steps and to be at the top level after six or seven years, and then compete at that top level.

The Giant-Alpecin rider emphasizes, though, that such decision has as much to do with his maturity and methodical planning as with dreams he had since early childhood.

“Maybe some people think it’s stupid not to go for the GC in the Giro or whatever, but for me personally the Olympics were the biggest thing in my childhood, the highest thing you could achieve in sports,” he said. “So now I have that chance, to maybe get that medal, so I want to put everything else aside this year.”