After three successful weeks at the Vuelta, with Tom Dumoulin finishing 6th on the final GC, Team Giant-Alpecin caught up with team trainer Adriaan Helmantel and discussed Dumoulin's development.

"For the entire year, Tom’s main goal was to be at his best for the Tour de France. After the Ardennes classics, he had a short rest period and then the focus was fully on the Tour. A training block followed in preparation for the team’s training camp at altitude. This was his first experience with training at altitude, and he reacted well to the altitude and the training effort. Right after the altitude camp he started the Tour de Suisse, where he did not have top form but performed at a high level. In the queen stage to the Rettenbachferner he showed that he had taken a big step forward in his development by achieving good power values and limiting his losses to the climbers after a long stage.

"After Switzerland he suffered from a cold and saw a slight drop in form, so the Dutch TT championships did not go well. With a couple of days’ rest he recovered quickly and was ready for the Tour. He crashed on stage 3, though, and his Tour was over. Initially, his recovery time was estimated at four to six weeks, which meant that the Eneco Tour was definitely out of the question. So first we aimed for the Canadian races (Alberta, Quebec and Montreal). With a view to his long-term development and in consultation with Tom, of course, we decided to start him in the Vuelta, in order to do a Grand Tour this season.

"The expectations were that he would not be in top form at the beginning but would reach top form toward the third week’s time trial. This would also be a good way to prepare for the world championships and invest in the future.

In reality, Tom was back in training faster than expected. After a week he was able to start easy training on the rollers, and after two weeks he was already training on the road again, followed by a second two-week training camp at altitude in Livigno, Italy. Thus he was only out of training for one week, so he basically did not lose any form at all and could build upon the top form he had from the Tour. The effect of two altitude camps (the altitude, good training and a lot of climbing) and the good level he achieved in the Tour de Suisse have enabled Tom to reach his current level. He has also shown that he can achieve a high level immediately after a hard training block and that he does not need racing for that (i.e., Tour Down Under and Tour de Suisse).

"The stages in the first week of the Vuelta were ideal for Tom, with not many very difficult climbs before the final climb, where an effort of 10-20 minutes was required – something Tom is really good at. In the second week he showed strong power values, which are comparable to those he achieved at the Tour de Suisse. In the third week, however, we saw a slight decrease in his form, as fatigue struck. This is quite natural and normal for a rider of his age, fighting for the GC every day. In the final weekend we saw that the Vuelta was one stage too long for Tom and his losses increased as he dropped to sixth overall in the final GC. This was still high above our initial expectations, and he showed that he has made a great step forward in his development as a GC rider.

"Last winter we asked ourselves the question: Is Tom Dumoulin capable of finishing on the podium of a Grand Tour within five years? This is a question we don’t ask about most of the riders in our team and was based upon the qualities of the rider. Tom is a rider who produces high absolute power values and also has a good watts/kg ratio. Those are capacities that make you a good GC rider. With Tom we saw what he was capable of during time trials, but he was not easily able to achieve good power values at the end of a long race – something Barguil, for example, is capable of. If you really want to compete for victories, this is necessary because 99 percent of all races are decided not in the beginning but at the end of the stage or race. This year Tom has become more consistent in showing a high level in the finale. Another weakness we saw in Tom was a characteristic that is disastrous for a GC rider: he regularly alternated good days with weak days, both during races and in training. He has also become more consistent in that regard this year.

"What we shouldn’t forget is that Tom, at 24 years old, has a lot of margin to grow. As he grows older (more years of training, more racing kilometers, more experience) he is likely to improve.

"For this season, further developing his time trial capacities was the central aim, and working on his Grand Tour capacities was more of a longer-term plan. This does not mean that Tom only did short and intensive training. Experience and analysis from the past showed that Tom races his best time trials after a lot of long training sessions, including races followed by enough rest to recover. We invested a great deal in building a very strong base, and from that we worked on his time trials. Tom has become stronger and more consistent partly as a result of this approach.

"Tom took a big step forward last winter with regard to nutrition. Together with the team’s dietician, Rob van der Werf, Tom started working systematically to increase his knowledge about nutrition. He knows more about what he needs and applies this knowledge very well around his races. Previously he made the mistake of not eating enough, especially on days when he rode easy, which led to less energy at the end of the race. As a result he used his reserves, which hit him the day after. Knowing this, and out of fear, he also made the mistake of eating too much. We found the right balance this season, and also in the Vuelta this has been going very well.

"In addition, Tom is very critical of himself and the team and is also open to criticism from our performance team. This constructive critical attitude ensures that improvements are made in many different areas – for example, improvements in the time trial equipment, his position on the bike, pacing schedules and trust. Intensive cooperation across multiple areas within the team is paying off. Furthermore, Tom receives the space and support he needs from the team to reach his maximum potential. Some people claimed that Tom would have to leave our “sprinters’ team,” but on the contrary he gets the space and opportunities he needs.

"Looking at the races, we have noticed a nice development at the Tour de Suisse in 2014 and 2015, a great performance at the Tour Down Under, and despite illness ahead of Paris-Nice a promising final climb on the Croix de Chaubouret. He won the time trial at Vuelta Ciclista Pais Vasco on a parcours that was more for climbers than time trialists. As we all know, Tom crashed out of the Tour de France, but he could have shown himself to be an emerging GC rider in the first half of that race as well. The consistency described above is also reflected in training. Where we previously had to make regular adjustments to his schedule because of greater-than-expected fatigue, he can now exercise better and train harder, enabling his overall level to improve.

"To answer the question of whether Tom is capable of finishing on the podium of a Grand Tour one day we need more time, and we have to be realistic as well. At least he is taking the necessary steps, and if we and he together continue to improve like this there is great potential."