Dumoulin sets sights on Tour’s yellow jersey

Tom Dumoulin all but confirmed Wednesday he will race at the upcoming Tour de France, saying he’s eager to test himself in two consecutive grand tours.

The Dutchman and 11 other riders are on Team Sunweb’s long list for the Tour de France. Over the coming weeks, the roster will be trimmed down to seven riders for the July 7 Tour start in France’s Vendée department.

Dumoulin won the 2017 Giro d’Italia and recently finished second to Sky’s Chris Froome in this year’s edition of the Italian grand tour. [related title=”More Tour de France news” align=”left” tag=”Tour-de-France”]

“I am very proud of what we’ve already achieved at the Giro and I consider any result that we can take at the Tour de France a bonus for this season,” Dumoulin said. “My season so far has been focused on the Giro and the team purposely waited to the make the decision about the Tour until after the Giro had finished.

“After a good Giro we’ve chosen to go to the Tour with a GC focus, to learn without a specific result in mind. Doing two consecutive grand tours for a GC will be a new experience for me and the team, and will give us some valuable insights for the future.”

Froome won last year’s Tour de France — his fourth yellow jersey — along with the 2017 Vuelta a Espana and the recent Giro.

Also on Sunweb’s preliminary Tour roster is Michael Matthews, who won the green points jersey last year. Matthews said he’s looking forward to helping the squad’s GC aspirations and going for stage wins.

“Taking the green jersey to Paris was a dream come true for me,” Matthews said. “This year my primary focus will be to support the team’s GC objective and in the uphill sprint stages I will be the team’s designated rider for the finale.”

Sunweb coach Tom Veelers said the team will focus on winning the yellow jersey and individual stages, which includes the stage 3 team time trial.

“As the world champions, the TTT is a stage that we have already highlighted and we will look for a solid result there,” Veelers said.

American Chad Haga is on Sunweb’s list of potential Tour riders as well. Haga raced the Giro d’Italia this spring and last year’s Vuelta a Espana. He has yet to appear in the Tour de France.

Sunweb’s long list for the Tour de France
Soren Kragh Andersen
Nikias Arndt
Phil Bauhaus
Roy Curvers
Laurens ten Dam
Tom Dumoulin
Simon Geschke
Chad Haga
Wilco Kelderman
Michael Matthews
Mike Teunissen
Edward Theuns