Juan Ayuso<\/a> on the rise.<\/p>\n\u201cSpain will always produce good riders because it has such a rich history, but the last few years have been tough,\u201d he said. \u201cI have high hopes for Juan Ayuso. He\u2019s a huge talent who still has things to learn to reach the level of Poga\u010dar or Vingegaard, both physically and as a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayuso\u2019s recent switch from UAE Team Emirates – XRG to Lidl-Trek caught many by surprise, but Dumoulin thinks it\u2019s exactly the right move. \u201cHe\u2019s ambitious \u2014 he doesn\u2019t want to be a domestique, that\u2019s clear. He wants to be a leader, and I think this move is best for both him and the team. I completely support it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Life after cycling: \u201cI\u2019m really enjoying it\u201d<\/p>\n
Dumoulin\u2019s own life after cycling appears far from the intensity of the WorldTour. Since his retirement, he\u2019s rediscovered the joy of sport without the suffocating pressure of results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really enjoying it. Life is good, and I\u2019ve never once thought about coming back,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m happy and proud of my career, even the difficult years towards the end \u2014 they shaped me as a person. I think I needed those tough years, and now I\u2019m genuinely happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
That happiness now comes through a different kind of endurance. Dumoulin has swapped the peloton for pounding the pavements \u2014 and made an impressive marathon debut in Amsterdam last October, clocking 2:29:21.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love sport in general, but running is something I really enjoy,\u201d he said. \u201cMy goal was to go under two and a half hours, and I did it. Now it\u2019s just for fun. My dream would be to run the New York Marathon one day. I know I can improve my time, maybe by ten minutes, but I don\u2019t want to be a professional again.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Grand Tour glory to marathon milestones, Dumoulin\u2019s reflections show a man entirely at peace with life after cycling \u2014 one still captivated by the sport, but relieved to be watching it from the outside rather than living it from the saddle. \u201cWriting my book reminded me how much fun cycling can be,\u201d he added. \u201cSo I\u2019d say: read it \u2014 and then go out for a ride yourself.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
That sense of awe extends to the modern peloton more broadly. Cycling has evolved at such a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-244770","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\/244770","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=244770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}