Tour de France hopeful Tom Dumoulin is against the idea of using training app Strava as he would rather keep his training secrets to himself. The Dutchman signed for home WorldTour team Jumbo-Visma in the winter and was preparing to target the French Grand Tour as part of a three-pronged attack with teammates Steven Kruijswijk and Vuelta a Espana champion Primoz Roglic.
He spent much of the winter continuing his recovery from knee surgery in 2019 however the specifics of his training are a mystery with the 29-year-old shunning apps such as Strava.
Unlike Dumoulin, some of his Grand Tour rivals have proved quite open with how far and long they train, notably Team Ineos duo Chris Froome and Egan Bernal.
Froome regularly posts mammoth 200km training rides in South Africa and Colombia while Bernal even goes to the extent of allowing his power data to be visible.
For Dumoulin, this is a step he is not willing to take, preferring to keep his cards close to his chest, with him explaining to Belgian newspaper HUMO why he is against putting his training rides in the public domain.
'I don’t put anything on it and I don’t follow anyone. I don’t want to show how I prepare,' said Dumoulin.
'Top sport is about getting an edge over the other [competitors]. When do you train hard? When quiet? It takes years to perfect that. Winning a race is a puzzle that is very difficult to solve. I’m really good at that. Why the hell would I share my years of experience with the world?'
Like peloton colleagues Peter Sagan and Alejandro Valverde, Dumoulin is also a sceptical of the ever-growing virtual racing scene.
With actual racing currently postponed, riders have been turning to apps like Road Grand Tours and Zwift to race while Dumoulin's Jumbo-Visma team even participated in the inaugural virtual Tour of Flanders and Swiss Digital Five.
While he appreciates it gives riders 'something that is better than nothing', he distrusts online racing and is resistant to commit his energies to the platform.
Dumoulin is more focused on returning to physical racing, specifically the Tour, which could still take place, albeit in September instead of July.
His move to Jumbo-Visma from Team Sunweb was part of plans to target an inaugural Tour victory. Dumoulin is a previous Giro d'Italia champion but is most focused on improving his second place at the 2018 Tour.
Unlike at Team Sunweb, however, Dumoulin is not alone in targeting Grand Tour success at Jumbo Visma with Kruijswijk and Roglic also eyeing yellow jersey success.
While sharing team leadership may seem obstructive, Dumoulin is actually looking forward to the reduced pressure and inter-team competition, hoping it could be the catalyst to bigger results.
'I wanted to join a team where I wasn’t the only leader all year round – not the only monkey on the rock,' said Dumoulin.
'Steven Kruijswijk, Primoz Roglic and I all want to win the Tour so I’ll have to accept that maybe a teammate is better. Then we draw his card as a team. And not from the one who thinks: "my day may come".'