Criterium du Dauphine: Tom Dumoulin hoping to attack on stage 7
14 June 2019 05:35
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) had a quiet stage 6 at the Critérium du Dauphiné, sitting up on the day's final climb – the Col de Beaune – to finish more than 11 minutes behind stage winner Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and about five minutes behind the main general classification contenders in Saint-Michel-De-Maurienne. Dumoulin arrived at the Dauphiné following a crash on stage 5 of the Giro d'Italia, which ended the Dutchman's hopes of a second maglia rosa through a knee injury where the effects are still being felt. An aggressive and impressive, but ultimately unsuccessful, attack on stage 2 of this week's race saw Dumoulin's chances of a high finish on the general classification all but disappear, but in turn took any pressure off of the Sunweb leader and offered the opportunity to fully recover from the knee injury and hone his form ahead of next month's Tour de France.ADVERTISEMENT Speaking in a rainy Saint-Vulbas ahead of the start of stage 6, Dumoulin admitted he was still feeling the effects of the crash in Italy and would use the stage to rest his knee following some discomfort on the previous day's stage. "The body is holding up," Dumoulin told Cyclingnews after the stage. "So far, so good, and [the knee] is feeling better than yesterday so that's hopeful." Dumoulin's third-place finish on stage 4's individual time trial, which was overshadowed by the news of Chris Froome's crash and subsequent injuries, showed the former time trial world champion is still carrying the form of a Grand Tour contender. The question remains, however, as to just how much Dumoulin's injury will hamper his climbing in the mountains this weekend, and Dumoulin plans to see just what his body is capable of tomorrow.
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