Dutch rider Sam Oomen endured "a terrible winter", but despite role as domestique and Giro backup status, still dreams of winning

Oomen was once the great Dutch climbing talent, bursting onto the scene as a neo-pro with Team Sunweb by winning both a stage and the overall classification in the Tour de l’Ain. In 2017, he rode his first grand tour at the Vuelta a España, and in 2018 he was the key domestique for Tom Dumoulin, who finished second in the Giro d’Italia. Oomen himself placed ninth. Top ten finishes in prestigious stage races like the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Pologne, Volta ao Algarve, and Tirreno-Adriatico showcased his potential.

But things took a turn after a brutal crash in the 2019 Giro. Oomen recovered from a fractured hip but also had surgery to correct a narrowed iliac artery. Once healed, he moved to Visma | Lease a Bike, where he occasionally got opportunities but mostly worked in support of others. Lidl–Trek, however, was willing to give him a fresh start. With a three-year contract, that project is now about halfway through…

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"I can't complain, I'm doing okay."

“Very different from any other winter, because the crash at Gran Piemonte might’ve been one of the hardest crashes of my career.”

“Really? That could be. I only came away with a small fracture in my hip, an area I’d injured before. But I also lost a lot of skin. Honestly, I spent my entire offseason on crutches, and I was shocked when I saw how much I’d lost once I started training again at the end of November. At that point, I really didn’t think I’d be race-ready by February. So no, it wasn’t a fun winter at all.”

“Well, I went to Tenerife in February for training, and that’s when I started feeling improvements, step by step. The Figueira Champions Classic and the Volta ao Algarve actually went really well. I was able to support Tao (Geoghegan Hart, ed.) and Mathias (Vacek, ed.) properly. The Volta a Catalunya was a bit less good, but I just came back from altitude training, so we’ll see how things go now.”

“No, normally I’m just a reserve and I need to be ready in case something happens. The tickets have already been handed out, but I’m still really happy to be riding this race and also the Tour de Romandie next week.”

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“Whenever I can, like here at the Tour of the Alps, I hope to support guys like Ciccone and Tao for as long as possible. That would be great. And hopefully, I’ll get another shot at the Vuelta later this year. Who knows what the roles and responsibilities will be there? I gain so much confidence from ending up in the finale with those guys, it’s just really cool. And maybe in some of the smaller races, there might be some personal opportunities too.”

“Yes, and I think last year’s Vuelta was a good example of that. A few times, there was suddenly an opening to go for a result from the breakaway. (Oomen made three breakaways and finished fourth and thirteenth once each, ed.) I’m not going to say I felt like I could win, but for the first time in a long while, I also wasn’t far off, on the days I was up there. That only has to happen a few times a year for me, and if I can play the game again like I did at the Vuelta, that’s really exciting. In that sense, the Vuelta was an eye-opener. With a bit more freedom, those chances do come. But of course, that’s often not possible when you’re riding with big GC guys.”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m saying. I raced with superstars in last year’s Vuelta too. It’s just that the situation then allowed me to go in breakaways. If I didn’t want to ride with those guys, I would’ve chosen a different team.”

“Yeah, I won’t lie about that. It would be an incredible privilege to be part of that. But for now, that’s not the case, so I’m just making the best of it.”

“Absolutely. I’m not going to play the victim, but this past winter really took a toll on me. It definitely caught me by surprise.”

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])