Tom Dumoulin said he is open to competing in another Grand Tour next season, but added that he will discuss his 2022 race program with his teammate Jumbo Visma in December before making a decision.

The Dutchman won the Giro d'Italia in 2017 and finished second overall in both the Giro and Tour de France the following season; he took a career break before the 2021 season, citing burnout, but returned to competition in June, competing in the time trial at the Tokyo Olympics. He won a silver medal in the time trial at the Tokyo Olympics. [In an interview with the Dutch magazine Helden (opens in new tab), Dumoulin said, "I became a cyclist to get the most out of myself. Trying to get results is still the best thing for me. I'm not content to just ride at the front for the other riders. I have to be able to do that, so I can give 95 percent of what I'm capable of, and also bring a lot of value to the team."

"But the feeling that I can perform well at 95 percent doesn't fit my level of ambition. I want to aim for 100 percent. I want to run short races and of course I want to win. Which races will be known in December. But I will not rule out the Grand Tours. I still find Grand Tours challenging and I know I can do well in them.

In August, Jumbo Visma boss Richard Prag suggested that Dumoulin could compete in the Tour de France next season after a year away from Grand Tour racing.

Dumoulin abandoned the 2019 Giro d'Italia after crashing in Frascati in the opening week and was forced to miss that year's Tour due to injury; he moved from Sunweb to Jumbo Visma before the 2020 campaign, and he is expected to race the 2020 Tour with teammate He substituted for Primoš Roglic and finished seventh overall in Paris.

Dumoulin then abandoned the Vuelta a España and began preparing for the 2021 season last winter, but struggled; in January he announced his decision to step away from competition; in January, he announced that he would be leaving the Tour of France, and that he would be leaving the Tour of Spain.

"In January I couldn't ride for two hours on the bike. After those rides I felt sick and miserable all day. I lay on the couch for hours," Dumoulin said. My body totally slammed on the brakes. My body completely put on the brakes. I even started to hate cycling. I had no choice but to cut the knot and quit in January. I couldn't continue like that."

Dumoulin told Helden that getting off the pro cycling carousel allowed him to look at himself and, to some extent, regain control: "I needed that period of time to see that this thing was bothering me.

He added that he had no problem with the obligations that come with fame, such as giving interviews and posing for pictures with fans, but that he was beginning to feel he was having less and less input into the direction of his career.

"Everyone around me wants to get maximum results from me. That's not wrong. Because I want that too," Dumoulin said.

"They just want to achieve that goal by creating an entire environment around me with the best experts in every field to determine what is best for me. Everyone wants to contribute with the best will in the world to make me better. Hardly anyone had any idea what or how I actually wanted. Choices were made for me almost incessantly, and I was no longer able to indicate the direction I thought best. It often felt very oppressive.