{"id":211842,"date":"2025-10-19T22:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T22:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/211842\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T22:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T22:11:09","slug":"ex-giro-ditalia-winner-tom-dumoulin-shocks-amsterdam-marathon-with-229-debut-run-my-heart-said-go-my-legs-screamed-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/211842\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Giro d\u2019Italia winner Tom Dumoulin shocks Amsterdam Marathon with 2:29 debut run \u2013 \u201cMy heart said go, my legs screamed no\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe heart of a champion, the legs of a beginner<\/p>\n

Dumoulin\u2019s start was electric. After the opening 10 kilometres, he was on course for a 2:18 finish \u2014 an elite-level tempo. For a while, he even found himself running in the same group as Ethiopian Aynalem Desta, the eventual women\u2019s winner in 2:17:38. But as the kilometres mounted, his body began to rebel against the pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a difference between what my fitness can handle and what my muscles and tendons can,\u201d Dumoulin explained. \u201cI was in that group thinking, \u2018I can take them on!\u2019 But halfway through everything started cramping up and I thought, \u2018This is going to be a long one.\u2019 I honestly thought I might have to pull out. I stopped twice with cramp \u2014 I think around 25 and 35 kilometres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite those struggles, Dumoulin\u2019s trademark determination came to the fore. Where lesser competitors might have folded, the Dutchman pushed on through pain and exhaustion, even finding the strength to accelerate again towards the finish \u2014 crossing the line just under his target of two hours and thirty minutes.<\/p>\n

His split times told the story of a debutant still learning his new discipline: 1:09 for the first half, followed by 1:20 for the second. \u201cMy drop-off was huge,\u201d he admitted. \u201cYou can really see that I haven\u2019t yet processed the mileage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1055107823\"\/<\/p>\n

Dumoulin retired as one of the most successful Dutch cyclists of the modern era<\/p>\n

From time trialling precision to marathon chaos<\/p>\n

The marathon was far from a casual jog for the former world time trial champion. Dumoulin had trained seriously, extending his long runs up to 34km in the lead-up to Amsterdam. Yet, as he freely acknowledged, that balance between sufficient mileage and avoiding injury remains tricky for a newcomer to endurance running.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fine line between not getting injured \u2014 which did happen \u2014 and running enough,\u201d he reflected. \u201cI did what I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

His post-race reflections showed the same humility and honesty that defined his cycling career. \u201cNow that it\u2019s over, the marathon feels fun \u2014 but ask me tomorrow and I\u2019ll say no,\u201d Dumoulin laughed. \u201cAsk me next week, maybe I\u2019ll say yes again. So don\u2019t ask me yet if I\u2019ll run another one.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The heart of a champion, the legs of a beginner Dumoulin\u2019s start was electric. After the opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-211842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}