Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Tom Dumoulin had been out of racing for almost a year. Now, against the backdrop of a solid if not remarkable campaign, the Jumbo-Visma rider believes he is one step closer to returning to the pinnacle of professional cycling.

Dumoulin was out of contention at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphiné, and a knee injury suffered at the Giro d'Italia and a falling out with Sunweb kept him out of competition for the rest of that season. Then, after signing with Jumbo Visma, his planned build-up to 2020 was derailed, first by enteritis and then by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with De Limburger (opens in new tab), Dumoulin said that when the season finally began, "I went from nothing to total chaos."

After returning from outside the top 10 at the Tour de Ain in August, the 30-year-old finished seventh overall at the Dauphiné, Tour de France, where he supported Primoš Roglic.

He was encouraged by his Tour performance, but admitted he lacked that last bit to compete at the level that won the 2017 Giro d'Italia and finished second in both the Tour and Giro in 2018.

"Physically it was more difficult than I expected. In top sports, the last one percent is everything," Dumoulin said. 'But that one percent is harder ...... than the first 90 percent. But that one percent is harder than the first 90 percent. ......

After 14 months away from competition and a heavy schedule of 40 days and 82 days of racing, Dumoulin reached his limits and was forced to retire from the Vuelta a España on stage 7 due to fatigue. In retrospect, he said, riding La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège right after the Tour and the World Championships may have been overkill.

"I was completely exhausted in the Vuelta. I really wasn't going to do the Classics, but it went well and I seemed to have improved. There was a lack of riders.

"Maybe I shouldn't have done it after all. I wanted to show myself again.

On the bright side, Dumoulin points to his second place in the final time trial of the Tour de France and seventh overall as a sign that he can get back to his best.

"If I add one percent to this year's Tour, I'll be close to it. He said, "I didn't show my best side in the last Tour, and I finished seventh in that aspect. That gives me confidence that I can be a full participant again soon."