Rabobus

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He already beat Cavendish twice in small races (Almeria and last year Oman).
And he already won quite a bunch of small stage race/1-day race sprints.

The question is wether he can do it on the big stage-races against top competition. So for, no. Will be interesting to follow this season indeed. I heard he's doing the Giro this year...

 

[Aapjes]

Just a quick question - what does gesink mean? I assumed it meant sunk or sank but online translators seem confused by it.

ink is a standard suffix in parts of The Netherlands. It means either 'decendent of' or 'belonging to/coming from'. So if you lived a long time ago and wanted to give your son a last name, you could call him 'frostyink' or more likely 'frostink'. Or, let's say you're from Brussel(s), it could have been 'brusselink'.

So then we're left with just 'ges', which may be shorthand for a common first name like cees. Or it may come from gestre aka yesterday in old dutch. So then gesink = 'from yesterday' (which would make Gesink truly 'old school'). Or his ancestors might have lived in Gees. Or it may come from Latin, where ges means carry, so perhaps his ancestor was a dock worker.

However, last names in The Netherlands can be anything from 700 to 200 years old, with plenty of alterations along the way, so it's very hard to tell.

 

[Frosty]

Thanks for your replies guys

 

[palmerq]

rabobos on winning form today http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/dwars-door-drenthe-2012/results boy van poppel is a great name :S

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Remember the Rabobank McDonalds pick from Tour down Under?

Seems McDonalds is a favorite spot even amongst their leader... RG
http://now.rabosport.nl/user/RGUpdate/view/12278392

Could explain their abysmal start

 

[theyoungest]

Remember the Rabobank McDonalds pick from Tour down Under?

Seems McDonalds is a favorite spot even amongst their leader... RG

Seems he's recced just about every stage of the Volta Catalunya, the queen stage twice, so let him have his burger.

 

[richtea]

You would have thought with his wealth he would have moved up to Pret a Manger, or EAT possibly.

 

[Spine Concept]

I have zero complaints with Gesink but that's probably because I don't have such high expectations of him this season with everything that happened. He has - pleasantly - surprised me with his recent performances though, didn't expect him to be at this level already. He's actually been one of the bright sparks for this season's dire Rabobank team - at least up to this point. I'm literally sick of hearing the post-race excuses, Rabobank is missing grit, zeal, and possibly luck. I just hope Rabo can keep the crashes to a minimal this year though they are racking them up already this season, Vermeltfoort is a walking crash test dummy. There's also no more room to sweep it under the ''unlucky crashes'' rug. I might be mistaken, but in Qatar (?) I think they managed to crash in the only turn of the parcours. SMH. Here's to hoping for a turn of the tide cause the talent is undoubtedly there but there's obviously something missing as well. Whatever it is I hope they get it sorted out, and fast. The only consolation is that BMC is still doing worse . Now I hope that doesn't come back to bite me in the **** tomorrow . Not to mention when Gilbert really gets going. Yikes.

 

[theyoungest]

I think Vermeltfoort's handlebars broke in the Qatar crash. Of course we didn't read that on the Rabobank site, for fear of selling less Giants. And in Oman it was Langeveld who crashed and Vermeltfoort couldn't avoid him anymore.

Crash test dummy you become when you fall of a starting ramp and break both your wrists. Oh wait, he did that as well

 

[Spine Concept]

I think Vermeltfoort's handlebars broke in the Qatar crash. Of course we didn't read that on the Rabobank site, for fear of selling less Giants. And in Oman it was Langeveld who crashed and Vermeltfoort couldn't avoid him anymore.

Crash test dummy you become when you fall of a starting ramp and break both your wrists. Oh wait, he did that as well

I lol'd big time there. Poor guy.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

I am just happy that i don't follow them as much as the "oranje"...

 

[theyoungest]

I think I'd rather see them in the bus than the display today in San Remo. Ridiculous.

 

[AntonioRossi]

What in the world happened today? 3-4 guys leading on the poggio. Then no one could follow Nibali's attack and no result again for rabo. Disappointing

 

[Havetts]

Atleast they came smiling over the finish line...

 

[theyoungest]

What in the world happened today? 3-4 guys leading on the poggio. Then no one could follow Nibali's attack and no result again for rabo. Disappointing

They're still in the "we have to take responsibility" mindset. Or at least their DSes are. But for what? And for whom? What was the idea? I'd like to know.

 

[AntonioRossi]

They're still in the "we have to take responsibility" mindset. Or at least their DSes are. But for what? And for whom? What was the idea? I'd like to know.

Exactly, they did not need to set the pace. They could have send at least one guy up the road. It's a big gamble to wait for the sprint. And since Renshaw and Breschel havent shown anything promising yet, it would have been a huge gamble to just wait. Would have liked to see Boom go off the front.

 

[roundabout]

They should have blocked the road on the Poggio.

 

[AntonioRossi]

They should have blocked the road on the Poggio.

They certainly could have They had 5 guys when they started the Poggio

 

[theyoungest]

Exactly, they did not need to set the pace. They could have send at least one guy up the road. It's a big gamble to wait for the sprint. And since Renshaw and Breschel havent shown anything promising yet, it would have been a huge gamble to just wait. Would have liked to see Boom go off the front.

Breschel has shown promising signs, and he was close today. He seemed to be blocked by Hoogerland when Nibali went, had to pass two guys and it was too much.

But the point is: why ride on the front of the peloton? Instigate the attacks yourself. Paul Martens was very strong today, rode almost the entire Poggio on the front, but why not just pull a Hoogie? Much more fun to watch, and much more gratifying for Martens himself.

Boom wasn't good enough, hanging at the back like Boasson Hagen. Once both of them were seen as the classics guys for the future, I doubt they are.

 

[DominicDecoco]

I thought it was a kind of naive tactics from Rabo. Matti looked good and wanted to stay in front for the descent which is descisive in this race. But there was no pace what so ever and surely they would expect attacks on Poggio??

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I must say I lol'd hard today when rabobank were with 5 guys making the poggio and none of them finished in the top 20. way to go

 

[El Pistolero]

I must say I lol'd hard today when rabobank were with 5 guys making the poggio and none of them finished in the top 20. way to go

Wasn't really a surprise though? They do this in every classic.

 

[theyoungest]

I must say I lol'd hard today when rabobank were with 5 guys making the poggio and none of them finished in the top 20. way to go

Not as much fun as seeing half of Coldeportes getting dropped together with Cavendish though.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Wasn't really a surprise though? They do this in every classic.

they didn't crash though this uear, which surprised me

 

[AntonioRossi]

they didn't crash though this uear, which surprised me

That's an improvement. But still it's very disappointing. They send a relatively strong squad but in the end they got nothing.