A conflict between the Ducth Federation and ASO means that the Tour de France may avoid the Netherlands in the coming years. That's bad news for the Limburg province which is hoping for a visit from the grand tour n 2017 when the Grand Départ will be in Düsseldorf, Germany. Tom Dumoulin is pushing for 'his' Limburg.

The Dutch time trial specialist has revealed his plans in an interview with De Limburger. "I hope so," Dumoulin says when asked whether the Tour will return to Limburg in 2017. "Then the KNWU and ASO have to resolve their conflict regarding thise 140 000 euro quickly. That's where I'd like to have my say with Tour boss Christian Prudhomme." The conflict stems from the 2015 Grand Depart in Utrecht. The Dutch Federation asks ASO to pay 140 000 euros but the Tour organizers refuse.

"Then a time trial would be natural, with finish on the Vrijthof. First two stages around Düsseldorf, the Germans are quite fond of sprint stages. And then a short time trial in Limburg. Unusual? Prudhomme do many unusual things so this should suit him perfectly," said the two-time stage winner of the last Vuelta a España.

Dumoulin was also asked about his exploits in the Vuelta. His greatest memory was his stage win in a tough summit finish where he beat Chris Froome.

"At first I thought 'Shit, I will not win again.' For more than eighteen months, I had not won a 'normal' race," he said. "I have won several time trials, but it is not very exciting to celebrate your victory in the hot seat. For some time, I have wanted to raise my arms. So when Froome and Joaquin Rodriguez passed me, I was initially predominantly very pissed off. Then I began to think: I've got nothing to lose because I already had the red jersey. I saw Froome ride away and thought 'That's more bluff than strength'. I switched to a higher gear. We would see who was the greatest bluffer and eventually I was. It was pure bluff."

At one point, it looked like Dumoulin would win the Vuelta but he cracked in the final mountain stage.

"I knew that the red jersey was gone at the top of the penultimate climb," he said. "I was already riding far beyond my limit. I knew Aru would again ride away on that last climb but the podium was still possible."

His performance in the Vuelta created great interest but he decided to renew his contract with Giant-Alpecin for three years even though the German team has never excelled in GCs at grand tours.

"That we have not won a grand tour is mostly because we can not pay these riders," he said. "If we had signed Contador, we would have won. I doubt that I would have won the Vuelta this year if I had been in a big team. I believe that we are stronger than many other teams when it comes to training and support than many other teams.

" We've never smelled the top, that's right. We don't have that experience but we are trying to fill the gap with the signing of Laurens Ten Dam. And in part it is trial and error. Last season Sky tried to dominate the spring, but they also failed."

Since his Vuelta performance, there has been much discussion about his 2016 schedule. He has made it clear that the Rio Olympics is the main goal but it remains to be seen whether he will go for GC in a grand tour. The Giro starts in the Netherlands and includes three time trials which has prompted many to speculate that he will do the Italian race.

"I look at it [the discussion] with a smile," he said. "I don't care about what others think. For me it would be no problem if my schedule had already been announced but the team wants to do it next week at the team presentation in Berlin. "