Tom Dumoulin of Jumbo Visma was clearly pleased to see the revised 2020 calendar released Wednesday by the UCI (the Tour de France will now start on August 29 and conclude in Paris on September 20), but the 2017 Giro d'Italia winner and this year's Tour was also scheduled to compete in this year's Tour, the Dutchman told Cycling News that travel restrictions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could complicate his and his rivals' training.

Dumoulin is currently in Belgium and can ride alone outdoors, but if the pandemic does not improve and travel restrictions are lifted and he is unable to train at altitude for significant blocks, he will not be able to ride to victory at the Tour.

"If you can't camp at altitude, you can't win the Tour de France," Dumoulin said by phone Wednesday afternoon.

"I mean, to go for GC in the Grand Tour you need special preparation, especially high altitude camping. I especially need a high altitude camp. If I am not allowed to go to the high altitude camps this summer, I will have to participate in the Tour de France.

Dumoulin said that athletes currently living at altitude and able to train during the summer would have a huge advantage.

"Some of the players who live in Andorra can't go outside right now, but probably after May or June they will be able to again. If they can go out in May or June, they will be able to train in the mountains and at high altitude, which is ideal for the Tour de France. It would be ideal preparation for the Tour de France.

"I'm at sea level in Belgium," Dumoulin continued, "so I can't do long climbs."

"That would be a complete difference in preparation for the Tour.

Dumoulin has been biding his time in Belgium, across the Dutch border, since the race was suspended in March. An intestinal parasite delayed the 29-year-old's scheduled season debut in February, and Dumoulin has been at a standstill ever since.

He told Cycling News that seeing the calendar take shape, even if tentatively, is a positive step that gives the sport something to look forward to.

"Given the situation, I'm fine, but it's a strange world out there right now.

"At the moment I'm just getting in shape, I'm not training super hard or for a long time. I'm just training enough to be able to step up when I need to. We don't have enough information about the whole program yet to make any final plans for the end of the year, but assuming the season starts with the Tour de France in late August, we'll be planning some sort of preparation for that soon.

"But nothing is certain at this point. There is of course the possibility that the pandemic will not subside as we hope and the race will not continue at all. We just have to keep a good mindset and hope for the best.

Dumoulin clearly wants to get back to racing. While most of his colleagues are out for a little over a month, it has been 10 months since Dumoulin last raced the Criterium du Dauphiné, as the second half of 2019 was wrecked by a knee tendon injury suffered in a crash on stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia.

His debut season with Jumbo Visma was scheduled to start in February at the Volta a Valenciana, but illness kept him off the start line. The following Tirreno Adriatico in March was postponed due to a parasite in his stomach; his scheduled start in April was interrupted by a coronavirus outbreak.

"There are bad days and good days.

"It was really hard mentally because I was ready for a comeback. Last year was my worst season. Well, obviously the whole world has turned upside down and this season is even worse than last year so far. So it's pretty hard mentally to deal with that [of course, last year was a huge setback. But it taught me some lessons. So whenever I get a little down mentally, I think about that."

With Dumoulin joining Jumbo Visma alongside 2019 Vuelta a España winner Primos Roglic and GC contender Steven Kruijswijk, the Dutch team now has a three-pronged threat to attack the Tour this year.

Unusually, the team announced its Tour contingent in February, putting its three-leader strategy front and center. With the Tour, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España coming up in rapid succession, Dumoulin told Cycling News that this plan could change.

"I can't answer that question," he said. The Tour is the most important race for us as a team and for cycling in general. We already have an overall plan to go into the Tour with all the top teams and all the top riders, and I can't imagine that suddenly changing."

"We've already diversified the leadership a bit, with George Bennett going to the Giro and Steven Kruijswijk going to the Vuelta. Now that the Olympics are gone, maybe we'll be able to get into the Tour or the Vuelta, for example. But at this point we don't know anything yet. It will take some more time to make plans."