What a difference a year makes. It was December 2020 when Tom Dumoulin decided to quit racing altogether. He said he was "mentally and physically exhausted."

Upon his return, he made his presence felt by winning a silver medal in the individual time trial. He trained for three months for this victory, but he ceded that honor to Jumbo Visma's teammate Primoš Roglic, who took Slovenia's first gold medal.

Dumoulin took his hat off to Roglic on the podium in Tokyo, and after spending time together at the team camp in Catalunya from December 13-21, he dedicated much of his new outlook on making a living from cycling to his Jumbo-Visma teammate. [I love talking to Primosch. I love talking to Primosch. I've never seen him criticize anyone. He tells you how he feels and talks about his experiences," Dumoulin told L'Equipe (opens in new tab) of his takeaways from the camp.

"I now want to see this camp as an adventure, as a story I will write just for me. I am lucky enough to experience it only once in my life, and I have to accept the best and the worst.

The Dutch rider, who is part of a Dutch team, is ready to return to racing for a full season and compete in the Grand Tours again. He has only raced 19 days in 2021.

"I spent most of the 2020 season mentally and physically exhausted. I was unable to recover and was trapped when I arrived at the beginning of the year," the 2017 Giro d'Italia winner and former time trial world champion told L'Equipe. 'I had to make the decision to quit in order to have the perspective I needed and find a way to function differently.'

Dumoulin had won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, so his only goal was to go further in Tokyo. He admitted that the only reason he was not terribly discouraged was that it was Roglic who had won the gold medal.

"If I could have chosen who to lose to, I would have chosen Primosz. He is a role model of sorts for me," he admitted.

Even after the Olympics, Dumoulin faced a career setback when he was run over by a car near his home in the Netherlands, breaking his wrist and requiring surgery. This forced him to miss the World Championships in Flanders and end his season.

However, he returned with renewed fitness and a new outlook, thanks to Roglic.

Dumoulin has not ridden a Grand Tour since 2020, when he finished seventh overall in the Tour de France and abandoned the Vuelta early due to fatigue. He could compete in either the Giro or the Tour next year, but the Vuelta starts in the Netherlands with three stages, with team and individual time trials over three weeks, so he can make up time lost in the mountain stages.

"What is certain is that we will continue to target the overall in certain races," Dumoulin said.

Jumbo-Visma is one of four WorldTour teams participating in the Volta ao Algarve, February 16-20.