Tom Dumoulin may have stepped away from the pro peloton in 2022, but it turns out the former Giro d’Italia winner hasn’t lost his knack for pushing the limits of endurance.
On Sunday at the Amsterdam Marathon, the Dutchman made his marathon debut with a blistering time of 2:29:21, proving once again that elite cyclists are built a little differently.
“I wanted to run under two and a half hours, and I succeeded,” Dumoulin told Het Laatste Nieuws. “But it was painful and difficult.”
That understatement masks what was a gritty, rollercoaster debut. The 34-year-old went out hard, maybe too hard, passing the halfway point in 1:09, a pace that put him on track for a 2:18 finish. For a brief stretch, he even found himself running in the same group as Ethiopian Aynalem Desta, who would go on to win the women’s race in 2:17:38.
But marathons are unforgiving. Somewhere around 25 kilometers, Dumoulin’s day began to unravel. His calves cramped, his pace dropped, and he was forced to stop not once but twice, both around 25km and again near 35km.
Still, he held on. With gritted teeth and whatever was left in his legs, he managed to finish just inside his goal time.
On Instagram, he described the effort with typical humility:
“After stopping three times because of cramps and thinking I could not finish anymore, I managed to hold on to a pace just fast enough to still finish in a sub-2:30 time.”
Dumoulin finished 116th out of more than 23,000 participants. And while that may sound pedestrian compared to his Grand Tour results, it’s worth noting that his performance likely ranks among the top 50 Dutch marathon times of the year, achieved without a race license, fanfare, or formal marathon build.
“I trained up to 34 kilometers at an easy pace,” he said after the race. “Then I really came crashing down. Today I finished the first half in one hour and nine minutes and the second half in one hour and twenty. My decline is enormous. You can tell I’m not getting the kilometres in.”
It’s a familiar experience for many endurance athletes who switch disciplines. Dumoulin’s cardiovascular fitness clearly wasn’t an issue, he averaged 3:32 per kilometer or roughly 5:41 per mile. But his legs weren’t quite ready for the pounding.
“There’s such a difference between what my fitness can handle and what my muscles and tendons can,” he said.
In recent years, more and more cyclists have taken to running in the off-season or in retirement. Geraint Thomas recently completed his first Parkrun. Nacer Bouhanni ran a 2:34 marathon last year. Lance Armstrong’s marathon PR sits at 2:46.
Even active pros like Tadej Pogačar have started incorporating running into their training blocks. The stigma that once surrounded running, seen as too risky or disruptive to cycling form, has shifted. Many team trainers now actively encourage it for bone health, general robustness, and mental variety.
“I just enjoy it,” Dumoulin said. “On the bike, I know what I can do and how to pace myself. With running, I sort of know that too, but I just let go.”
Whether he’ll run another marathon remains unclear. “Now that it’s over, the marathon feels fun,” he said. “But ask me tomorrow and I’ll say no. Ask me next week, maybe I’ll say yes again.”
For now, Dumoulin has earned the right to rest, and bask in the knowledge that, cramps and all, he just ran a marathon time most life-long runners spend years chasing.
