‘It’s not great’ – Tom Dumoulin admits he is struggling with back injury at Giro d’Italia

Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) has revealed he is struggling with a back injury after enduring a mixed Giro d’Italia. The Dutchman appeared reluctant to speak about his condition during a Eurosport interview after Stage 11, pausing and looking around before saying: “To be honest, I have some issues with my back so it’s not great.” Ad/> He shipped time on Mount Etna on Stage 4 as his GC hopes vanished almost immediately, before he bounced back to propel team-mate Koen Bouwman to victory on Stage 7 from the breakaway.

Giro d'Italia'He knows the score!' — Dumoulin pretends to throw bottle at Lopez after clashYESTERDAY AT 12:39 Without joint-leaders Dumoulin and Tobias Foss in contention in the GC battle, and no obvious sprinter, Jumbo-Visma are only fighting for breakaway wins for the remainder of the Giro. Dumoulin is 19’08” adrift of Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) in the race for the maglia rosa.

Sam Oomen, who was the target of an angry bottle throw from Lopez on Stage 9, is Jumbo’s best ranked rider in 18th at 7’21”. Dumoulin is one of three former champions in the field along with Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) – but only Carapaz has realistic hopes of winning again in 2022.

Prosecco corks axed from podium celebrations after Girmay’s freak eye injury Dainese stuns big names to win Stage 11 sprint — — - Stream the Giro d'Italia live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.