Kristian Blummenfelt puts ambitious plan to win Tour de France on hold, as 2020 Olympic triathlon champion claims training has “gone in the wrong direction” after disappointing Paris Olympic results

With all the young riders taking the world of pro cycling by storm, it looks like there’s one less candidate the likes of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard will have to worry about in 2028, as Kristian Blummenfelt, the Norwegian triathlete with the highest ever recorded VO2 max has put his ambitious plan to turn to pro cycling and win the Tour de France by 2028 on hold, instead deciding to have one last go at the triathlon gold in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The 2020 Olympic triathlon champion had a disappointing time at the Paris Olympics by his standards, with the triathlon event taking place at a breakneck pace of sub-two hours. He finished 12th overall, ranked second in cycling, eighth in running, and 24th in swimming, but almost a full minute behind Great Britain’s Alex Yee who won the gold medal.

Since then, he’s managed to take the gold at the Ironman European Championships held at Frankfurt in August, but not without vomiting while running and even having to struggle with some pesky bowel issues — which involved not "getting out his morning s***" before the race and having to hunt for a vacant porta potty, managing to relieve himself in "8-10 seconds" while leading the race.

However, dubbed as the fittest man in the world, Blummenfelt and his super-coach Bu’s plans of going to the pro peloton seem to have taken a hit, hindered by some training issues as well as a professional contract not falling into place.

> Triathlon star with highest ever recorded VO2 max Kristian Blummenfelt reveals ambitious plan to win the Tour de France by 2028

In July, just before the Olympics, Blu and Bu, the super-duo who’re known to have perfected the ‘Norwegian training regiment’, shocked the cycling world by announcing their ‘Project 2028’.

“Let’s say that it is 90 percent likely that we will go cycling next year. The reason I say 90 is that we haven't signed a contract yet,” Bu said, with rumours of the Australian team Jayco-AlUla interested in not only the Blummenfelt's abilities, but also the training methods and the research the endurance athlete from Bergen's camp have been involved in.

Blummenfelt can absorb more than 7.7 litres of oxygen per minute, almost seven per cent more than the highest ever measured, 7.2 litres per minute.

However, since then, the team has confirmed that that’s all they were, rumours, and there hasn’t been any updates on a pro peloton swiping up the triathlete.

And now, Bu has confirmed that their focus is now to stay firm on the LA Olympic gold medal, instead of the maillot jaune. “After the Paris review we have decided to aim for Los Angeles 2028,” Bu told Velo, referring to the next Games.

“Despite the results in Paris, we are more confident after the race that going back from Ironman to Olympics is possible. We want to give it one last shot.”

This probably comes as a shock announcement within just two months of laying out an audacious but “serious” plan to beat the likes of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, although some road purists as well as our readers had raised eyebrows and expressed doubts on Blummenfelt’s capacity to do so, given that he’d have been 34 in four years’ time.

> “Kristian Blummenfelt is not to be messed with”: Tour de France stage winner backs 2020 Olympic triathlon champion’s plan to win Tour by 2028 and says he’ll “immediately claim his place” in peloton

Coach Bu had told TV2: “We probably need a few years. The first year will probably not be the Tour de France. 2025 will probably be more of a year of mapping, where we have to find out where we have to work. Not only with Kristian specifically, but also with the team. 

“In 2026, we aim to race in the Tour de France. In 2027 we must be in a position to take some jerseys. If we are not in a position to take some stage victories or be among the very top in the overall, it is difficult to think that we will do something magical until 2028. So we think that then we will really test it in 2027, and then the goal of going all-in in 2028.”

He had also received the stamp of approval from Tour de France stage winner and former hour record holder Victor Campenaerts, who told the Belgian press that the Olympic champion is “unmatched” mentally and “means business” when it comes to succeeding in professional cycling.

In a candid video shared on his YouTube channel, Blummenfelt has also talked about his Paris Olympic disappointment and then the bounce-back in Frankfurt by winning the Ironman European Championship. He said: “I feel maybe I haven’t done the right training in the last year or so. I want to learn more about the Paris reflection.

“Did we fail the project [to win the Olympics]? Yes we did, of course,” Blummenfelt said. “When you come 12th in Paris, you are failing the project of coming back to short-course. That’s the harsh brutality.”

“We have to be honest with ourselves. I think it’s the decisions we made in training, how we were weighting it the last 12 months, that was not good enough. It was obviously good enough to be in Ironman shape, but that’s showcased that it’s been tilted a bit in the wrong direction.”