Image 1 of 5 Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) blitzed the stage 17 time trial to move back into the red jersey (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 2 of 5 Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) holds onto red after stage 19 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 3 of 5 The realisation of losing the Vuelta sinks in for Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 4 of 5 Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) dropped Chris Froome (Team Sky) to win stage 9 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 5 of 5 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) rides to bronze in the 2014 worlds (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Tom Dumoulin put himself forward as one of the best time trial talents in the peloton when he took bronze at the World Championships last season. A year on, he blitzed the time trial in the second week of the Vuelta a Espana but, with the Grand Tour over, he is feeling the efforts.

Dumoulin will ride all the events available to him in Richmond, beginning with the team time trial on Sunday. Cyclingnews spoke to Dumoulin before he headed to the United States to see what his ambitions were for the 2015 World Championships.

Cyclingnews: After racing so well in the Burgos time trial in the Vuelta a Espana, are you raising the bar for the World Championships?

Tom Dumoulin: In the time trial in Burgos I still had a lot of power and I was really happy with my performance and my result so that gave me a lot of confidence ahead of the Worlds. But now, in these last few days, I’ve been lacking a bit of power so I hope after a week of rest it’ll be ok. It’s just difficult to say if it’s going to be enough for the Worlds or not. I, or we actually, made the decision to go for GC, in the Vuelta, and when we did it was also in the back of my mind that the Worlds could be a little bit disappointing.

So that’s possible, it’s definitely possible that it’s not going to be as good as I hoped for. But I learned so much about myself in these last weeks that’s it worth being bad at one World Championships. There’s going to be plenty more in the future. But it could happen that I recover well and I fly at the Worlds, so it can go either way.

CN: So you’re not setting yourself a specific target?

TD: That’s right. Normally I’d hope to be on the podium. I mean, I definitely need a good day to be on the podium. But if it doesn’t work out, this Vuelta has been worth it.

CN: So are you doing the trade team time trial and the road race?

TD: Everything.

CN: And, do you have any particular aims in the road race?

TD: Normally, Niki Terpstra is our leader. I don’t know exactly what to expect from the road race, how it’ll be. Of course, if I’m well rested by then, it could be I’m in good shape and I could make it with good legs into the final. But that’s so hard to say after this hard Vuelta. Normally, Niki is our leader.

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