Tom Dumoulin has yet to race in 2020 and has yet to race with Tour de France co-leaders Primos Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk, but the Dutchman is becoming optimistic that racing will resume in August, They plan to start the season with a race in France.

"It will be nice to have the season back in August," Dumoulin said in a team press release.

"I was still a little skeptical in March and April, but now I'm getting better every day. [In my case it's the Tour de France. So within the team we've decided to use June 1 as a start date to focus completely on the training sessions and the preparation that goes along with it."

Dumoulin has not raced since the Criterium du Dauphiné almost a full year ago, but he says he feels like he is training as he did in 2018, when he finished second behind Geraint Thomas in the Tour de France.

"In training, I feel like Tom Dumoulin again two years ago, but I still often wonder what it will be like to be back at the start of the race. With my new team, Jumbo Visma, I have yet to prove myself. I want to shine in these colors

"As things stand now, I'll start my preparation for the Tour de France with a few races in France. After that we will have to wait and see, but I will probably also compete in a number of classics and world championships."

Racing in France begins on August 1 with the UCI 2.1 ranked La Route d'Occitanie - La Depeche du Midi (4 stages) and the Mont Ventoux-Denivelle Challenge on August 6. Roglic will compete in the Tour de Ain on August 7-9 and the Criterium du Dauphiné on August 12-16. The Tour de France will begin on August 29.

"I am fully prepared for the Tour de France. I'm going to prepare as much as I can. The Tour is the biggest of the biggest and I would love to win one. So I hope we'll be successful. And I have no doubt that this team can do it. We will go into the Tour with three leaders: Primoz Roglic, Steven Kruijswijk, and myself.

"All three will get a chance to prove themselves, but in the end we will ride who we think is the strongest. As a general rule, we go in with an open mind. If I ultimately prove to be stronger than Primoz or Steven, then a world-class team that wants to win the Tour will make a move for me. Of course, the reverse is also true

"At the moment it is difficult to say which of us has the better chance. Based on our performance in the past months, I would say Primosch, but all three of us have not proven ourselves this year."