Professional running and cycling share plenty of similarities when it comes to endurance and training volume, but excelling in one doesn’t automatically mean you’ll master the other. Unless, of course, you’re Tom Dumoulin.
On Sunday at the 2025 TCS Amsterdam Marathon, the former Dutch cycling world champion and two-time Olympic medallist made an impressive marathon debut, clocking 2:29:21 to finish 116th overall out of more than 23,000 participants.
“I wanted to run under two and a half hours, and I succeeded. But it was painful and difficult,” Dumoulin told Dutch news Het Laatste Nieuws after the race.
In an Instagram post, Dumoulin shared that his goal was to break 2:30, but it escalated quickly after he went through halfway in 69 minutes.
“I remember telling myself I’d start at a conservative pace, but that went out the window when I decided to follow the lead women at 2:18 marathon pace,” Dumoulin reflected in his post. “That actually felt amazing until halfway, then I quickly felt my legs cramping up, and I had no other option but to let the group go after 23K.”
The 34-year-old, who won the 2017 UCI World Time Trial Championship, finished just 26 minutes behind race winner Geoffrey Kipchumba of Kenya, who set a new course record of 2:03:30.
Since retiring from professional cycling in 2022, Dumoulin has shifted his competitive focus to running, joining several other cyclists from his era who have done the same. Earlier this year, four-time Tour de France stage winner and French cycling national team manager Thomas Voeckler ran 1:13:21 at the Paris Half-Marathon, while 35-time Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish clocked 1:57:08 at the same event. Dumoulin, the former time-trial specialist, holds the fastest half-marathon personal best of the three at 1:10:04.
Dumoulin’s run is amazing considering it was just his first time racing the distance, although his massive positive split of 1:09/1:20 shows he has potential but a lot to learn to master it.
Tour de France legend faces criticism for his half-marathon debut
