Emotional Dumoulin reflects on near-death experience in Spain: "I could see my own intestines"

The autobiography of Tom Dumoulin, written by Nando Boers, is soon to be released, which means the Dutch cyclist is currently making appearances here and there to discuss the book. Dumoulin was a guest on the Dutch talkshow Renze on Thursday, where he looked back on a perilous moment from the beginning of his cycling career.

Crashes are a part of cycling, unfortunately, and this has been no different in Dumoulin's career. The open-hearted racer took presenter Renze, the other guests, and the TV viewers back to the Vuelta of 2012, his first grand tour. "There, I experienced a very nasty fall, actually the worst in my career," said the Dutchman, originally from the region of Limburg.

For his book, Dumoulin traveled to several places where he had achieved success. "But going back to that place was not at all the intention of the trip, because I was there as I had won the queen stage of the Tour de France in Andorra. So that was not the goal at all. On the way to Andorra, we passed the descent where I had a really hard crash."

"As a first-year pro cyclist, around twenty years old, I crashed very hard into the guardrail there," he continued. "I tore my stomach open and then fell down over the guardrail. When I climbed back up, I saw all red where my stomach was cut completely open. I notice that I still have difficulty thinking about that," said Dumoulin, who mentioned in his book that he could see his intestines at that time, with an emotional voice.

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Vuelta crash still has a big impact on Dumoulin

"It's still difficult to talk about. It had a big impact on me," said the Dutchman. "At that moment, I thought I was going to die. Since then, I've been scared throughout my career, always scared on a descent," said Dumoulin, who also reconstructed the moment right before the crash. "I was following another guy and he misjudged the corner. He stuck to his line, but I was coming up behind him with more speed and I had no chance. That's why I've always remained scared whenever I was in someone's slipstream: in a time trial I could descend like a cannon, but in the wheel, I was scared."

"Apparently, it's some kind of trauma, because otherwise I wouldn't get emotional about it now," Dumoulin understands. "There's still a big gash in my stomach, but I was very lucky at the time. My stomach was open and a lot of blood was coming out, but it was just a matter of stapling it together. I was very fortunate that nothing internal was hit. But I did feel very lonely when I was sitting there," indicates the rider, who still feels the effects today. "I still find it difficult to watch crashes, and I hope that my child doesn't become a cyclist." Dumoulin announced last week that he is becoming a father for the first time.