While Jumbo Visma has clearly been on a roll this spring, with Primoš Roglic and Wout Van Aert both making their mark in Paris-Nice and the Classical team winning the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Tom Dumoulin's start to the season has been rather disjointed.

After an unremarkable performance in the UAE Tour, he was unable to compete in the following Strade Bianche due to COVID-19, and there was growing interest in seeing how he would fare in the Volta a Catalunya, his first European World Tour race this season.

In a press conference before the first stage, Dumoulin said it was unrealistic to expect a top GC finish. He did, however, expect a week of hard racing to improve overall conditions.

Instead, the Dutchman lost count again when he boarded his team car midway through the third stage, the first entry into the Pyrenees.

His premature exit in Catalunya fueled speculation that Dumoulin might opt to change his program for the Giro d'Italia. However, according to Merijn Zeeman, Jumbo Visma's sporting director, the team would rather keep Dumoulin on the same course for now than change things.

As for the exact reason for his abstention, he said, "He was not sick, he was too close to the limit (of the race) and was not in good shape.

"He will be back to training tomorrow (Saturday). He was infected with COVID-19 before Strade.

Zeman said there will be no change in Dumoulin's race program: "We will do two races in the Netherlands, the Volta Limburg (April 2) and the Amstel Gold Race (April 10), then head to the high country. We will have a good preparation for the Giro and then we will see what happens with him."

If the program remains the same, Dumoulin would start the Giro with only 11 days of racing until spring. However, even before the start of the Volta a Catalunya, Dumoulin said he was not too concerned about that possibility, given that he had only done minimal racing before his best performance in the Giro.

Zeman preferred to reserve judgment for now, smiling wryly, "The Giro will tell me."

"We tried to make the best plan possible, but he declined to run.

"The race will make him better and three weeks at altitude always makes a big difference. Of course I am anxious, but I intend to do as well as I possibly can."

Zeman agreed that, in any case, if a situation like Dumoulin's arose, now would be better than near the Giro. And he noted that Dumoulin is not the only one who will have to deal with disease and the resulting damage to his form this spring.

"Of course, a lot of riders have to deal with illness, and they used to be sick; it was still a strange time with COVID-19, but now society is more open and all the other viruses [are widely spread]. These are strange times for any rider, and we have to deal with it.

It is unfortunate that Dumoulin's ability to cope with high altitude racing could not be tested, but Zeman said the probability of an accurate analysis is low anyway, given that Dumoulin was not in good shape in the days before he abandoned.

"That's why you wouldn't have seen much of Dumoulin in the big mountain races," Zeman noted.

As for the other teams in the Volta a Catalunya, Jumbo Visma had a scorching performance on the echelon. However, the leaders in the mountains were a little less successful. After the Pyrenees, Sam Omen is currently running in 14th place overall and Steven Kruijswijk in 26th.

"Sam is progressing really well, but he's on the right track. Stevie expected more [on the Pyrenees stage] and although it didn't go as well as we would have liked, he's actually in good shape."

But as Zeman says, "Globally, Jumbo-Visma has not had a bad season so far this year, but this kind of difficulty comes with the sport, and riders progress by learning how to deal with it.

"But that's the thing about bike racing, sometimes you're in great shape and sometimes you see what you need to do. It's a hard sport, and if you're one percent short, you're not the best. Every year there are more and more young riders coming up, and even here, Juan Ayuso and Tobias Harland Johannessen are doing well.

"So every year the level goes up. There are some good races like Paris-Nice, but struggling a little bit keeps you motivated to do better in the next race."