If this year’s Tour de France continues as it has so far, Dutch Corner on Alpe d’Huez is going to be very, very loud.
Why you may ask, has Robert Gesink survived the first week of a grand tour unscathed?! Well, yes actually, but his exploits are not the reason the Dutch will be cheering.
Step into the limelight Bauke Mollema.
This particular young Dutchman is 26, and is not new to the Grand Tour scene.
He actually finished fourth at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, winning the Points Classification, but bearing in mind that Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo won the race, 13 seconds ahead of a just-emerging Chris Froome, not much was said about Mollema’s future as a Grand Tour contender.
He also had to contend with being in a team with Robert Gesink, cycling’s perennial nearly man.
Gesink has been the Dutch favorite since his seventh place at the 2008 Vuelta, but since then has struggled with injury, including a nasty broken leg sustained in the 2011 Tour.
Gesink has not had the best of years, withdrawing from the Giro d’Italia after being touted by some to finally come into his own and reach a podium of a grand tour, and now consigned to domestique duty for Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam at the Tour de France.
Couple Gesink’s poor run of form with Mollema’s superb year, and you have a switch in hieracy at the newly christened Belkin team.
He currently lies third in the Tour after the time trial, just 12 seconds behind Alejandro Valverde, and has ‘The Wolfman’ Laurens Ten Dam for company in the top ten.
Now, as Wiggins and Froome have shown, it is possible to hold form for a long period of time.
So if Mollema has the conditioning, there is no reason to think that he will experience a fall down the rankings as dramatic as some of his rivals at this year’s race.
In my opinion, right now he is as safe a bet for a podium finish as Valverde and Contador, and will push the Spaniards all the way to Paris.
If such an event does occur, or he at least gets close, it is hard to see Belkin or Dutch cycling in general putting their faith in Robert Gesink, a man who is notoriously shaky in the first week of a three week race.
If I had to put money on one of them being the first Dutch grand tour winner since Joop Zoetemelk in 1980, I’d have to go with Mollema, and I think Belkin will do the same.
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