Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin is looking forward to the prospect of riding in front of his hometown crowd as he looks forward to the Amstel Gold race tomorrow.
The race starts in his home town of Maastricht and the Giant-Alpecin rider will be hoping to put in a good performance in what is another tough race.
Dumoulin has never finished above 20th in the race; as it doesn’t really suit his way of riding, but nonetheless he will look to target a better result than in previous years.
Dumoulin doesn’t have a ‘specific’ goal for Amstel
At the beginning of the season, Giant-Alpecin was involved in a serious training accident in Spain where a driver swerved into a number of riders including John Degenkolb and Warren Barguil. The Frenchman has since recovered and will line-up with Dumoulin at Amstel.
So it hasn’t been the ideal preparation for the start of the season for the German outfit; but for Dumoulin he is looking forward to the race, saying: “Amstel Gold is the race of the year for me.”
This is the only Classic race Dumoulin will ride; as he didn’t take part in the cobble Classics, and he will miss La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege as he is targeting the Giro D’Italia this year.
“I don’t really have a specific goal for the Amstel. I hope for a free role,” said the 25-year-old.
Giant have some good options for the race; Barguil performed well at the Tour de France last year, so he is likely to lead the team along with Simon Geschke.
Dumoulin impressed at the Vuelta a Espana last year, and he only narrowly lost out to Fabio Aru; but this year his primary target is the Giro; but in regards to the Amstel Gold race, he said: “But after 2015 I will have more confident at the start.”