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168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) is never one to beat about the bush, and the Dutch star made it very clear at Thursday's pre-race press conference at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d'Italia that there is only🅷 one result that counts for him in Verona o☂n June 2.

ꦏWhen asked if he thought a Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double was still possible, Dumoulin stated categorically: "I don't know… I'm here to win the Giro." Beyond that, it seems, there is little more t🍰o add on the subject.

Dumoulin showed no sign of doubt, either, when asked if he was worried that another top favourite, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), had 🦩won no fewer than three majo🅰r races already this season.

"Any race you win is beautiful and is g﷽ood for confi𓃲dence… I was not able to win so far, so, good for him," Dumoulin said.

It's worth recalling at this point that Dumoulin came into the Giro d'Italia without a win𝔉 in 2018 and in 2017, when he finished second and first oveᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚrall respectively. However, perhaps the most notable difference is Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in which he finished 15th in 2018 and 22nd in 2017, but this time was much further down in 50th.

"I have a feeling I'm in good condition," Dumoulin insisted. "Last we𝓰ekend I was feeling good, Liège was a downer, but that was hopefully due to the weather or something. Everything else is feeling fine, I'm feeling good for the Giro."

Dumoulin's spring was also notably more trouble-free than in 2018 but, as he insisted to Cyclingnews just before Liège, "There really is a whole bunch of favourites. I could name five riders that could win it – who definitely have a big chance of winning it. I'm one of them, I hope. But it's not like I'm going there as the big guy – it's 🍎not going to be like that."

Fast forward 12 days and Dumoulin was seemingly more affected by the last-minute elimination of Dutch soccer team Ajax in the Champions League the previous night than he was by the lack 🔜of wins so far this season, with the Dutchman saying: "I don't want to answer any questions. I was watching it and I couldn't sleep afterwards, it was terrible."

So what is he hoping to do in the Giro d'Italia? "I'm just here to race my heart out, and that's what ಌI'll do on the coming Saturday in Bologna," he said. "I will go from there. It's not in mꩲy mind to think about what I do if I win [the opening time trial]."

The Tour is at the back of his mind, but only to the poin♋t that he has limited his racing in the spring to a comparatively scant 16 days, although that's actually four more than in 2018 when he aban🐬doned Tirreno-Adriatico mid-race.

"We opted for a very limited first part of the year," Dumoulin poi🍰nted out, "because I'm pro⛎bably going to do the Tour."

No surprises there, then, nor when he was asked which stages he was happiest 𓄧about in the Giro thi🦩s year. "The time trials," he said, which draw a brief laugh from journalists.

But his rivals may have been a little more worried when he was asked, given his victory in last year's opening time trial in Je📖rusalem, what he thought of Sunday's opening TT course.

"I like it," Dumoulin said pointedly, and, after his win on a longer, less steep summit finish in the W🦋orld Championships two years ago, his intentions seem clear indeed.