The official Great Bauke Mollema thread

[May0maniac]

Re:

Gesink

Gesink fighting for a podium spot wouldn't surprise me at all.
Back to Bauke, until now he has been really impressive, a podium spot would be a huge deal for him.

 

[The Hegelian]

I'd love to see him on the podium. Didn't think he'd be anywhere near. It's good to see someone with pedigree and talent slowly mature.

 

[jens_attacks]

TGBM legend

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

In 2013 he was ill in the last week.

Nah, he was not.

Anway I wish Bauke good luck, he is hard to dislike.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He was ill. It has been stated and confirmed numerous times. It's not your word that suddenly decides he was not.
He was even almost withdrawn at some point because they feared it would not be good to start anymore

 

[Bardamu]

Re:

He was ill. It has been stated and confirmed numerous times. It's not your word that suddenly decides he was not.
He was even almost withdrawn at some point because they feared it would not be good to start anymore

Getting ill is often the result of going too deep in earlier days. Part of the game.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

He was ill. It has been stated and confirmed numerous times. It's not your word that suddenly decides he was not.
He was even almost withdrawn at some point because they feared it would not be good to start anymore

Nah, it is not, you are right. It is not that my word decides it, but I can have my opinion. Ok, he was ill. But during the Tour there really weren't any reports that he's ill. They never said that during the Tour or after Tour finished, only later they came with it, isn't it?
It's really strange someone who's ill finished with group of favourites after stage with Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine, Col de la Croix Fry. Obviously there's ilness and ilness.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ofcourse they arenot going to say during the Tour he is ill. That would have made it green light for anyone to attack his podium spot then.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Ofcourse they arenot going to say during the Tour he is ill. That would have made it green light for anyone to attack his podium spot then.

And of course ill rider finishes such hard stage with favourites, too? I don't see you doubting that. Only what suits you, isn't it.

 

[maltiv]

Re: Re:

He was ill. It has been stated and confirmed numerous times. It's not your word that suddenly decides he was not.
He was even almost withdrawn at some point because they feared it would not be good to start anymore

Nah, it is not, you are right. It is not that my word decides it, but I can have my opinion. Ok, he was ill. But during the Tour there really weren't any reports that he's ill. They never said that during the Tour or after Tour finished, only later they came with it, isn't it?
It's really strange someone who's ill finished with group of favourites after stage with Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine, Col de la Croix Fry. Obviously there's ilness and ilness.

I clearly remember an interview during the TDF where Nordhaug (who rode for Belkin then) said that Mollema was ill so they'd do everything they could to limit the losses. This was before he had lost any significant time.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Ofcourse they arenot going to say during the Tour he is ill. That would have made it green light for anyone to attack his podium spot then.

And of course ill rider finishes such hard stage with favourites, too? I don't see you doubting that. Only what suits you, isn't it.

He was empty. So I agree he wasn't really ill. He was just completely empty and they really considered at one point to withdraw him as he could barely get some food in anymore because of fatigue.

So imo it was more an illness due to fatigue.

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Ofcourse they arenot going to say during the Tour he is ill. That would have made it green light for anyone to attack his podium spot then.

And of course ill rider finishes such hard stage with favourites, too? I don't see you doubting that. Only what suits you, isn't it.

He was empty. So I agree he wasn't really ill. He was just completely empty and they really considered at one point to withdraw him as he could barely get some food in anymore because of fatigue.

So imo it was more an illness due to fatigue.

This time he looks very good though. When I saw him react quickly on faking Froome on Saturday, he looked really prepared to fight.

 

[Anderis]

Re: Re:

And of course ill rider finishes such hard stage with favourites, too? I don't see you doubting that. Only what suits you, isn't it.

Of course an ill rider can finish a hard stage with favourites. Illness is not equal to illness, sometimes it costs you 20 minutes on a given stage, sometimes only half a minute. It can affect your body to a different degree depending on what it is and how hard it strikes you.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Mollema'd better obtain a podium place that justifies dropping out of university.

 

[jmdirt]

Not to run the horse over with the cart, but if BM finishes on the box this year, who is the leader for the TdF next year: AC or BM?

 

[Kokoso]

Re: Re:

Of course an ill rider can finish a hard stage with favourites. Illness is not equal to illness, sometimes it costs you 20 minutes on a given stage, sometimes only half a minute. It can affect your body to a different degree depending on what it is and how hard it strikes you.

If illness doesn't affect your body, it is not an illness. We only know that people are ill because it affects their body.

 

[Bardamu]

Re:

Not to run the horse over with the cart, but if BM finishes on the box this year, who is the leader for the TdF next year: AC or BM?

I'm not sure, but I think Mollema himself said some weeks ago he was thinking of targeting Giro or Vuelta next year.
But if he finishes really close to Froome this year, he should really go all out for the Tour again in my opinion.

 

[Red Rick]

Just saw an interview with Mollema, at his very TGBMs. Seemed super happy with where he is, never dreamt of the Giro, never dreamt of the Vuelta, etc etc etc.

The Dutch media seem pretty hyped, but surprisingly it seems less than when Kruijswijk seemed on his way to winning the Giro. I'm afraid Mollema sees this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to podium the Tour, rather than win it. That said, Mollema is Dutch, and there's still the chance he'll complete the Dutch treble of epic *** ups

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Back to normal. Although Mollema is traditionally bad on the day after the 2nd rest day, I think this is his real level.

Will drop to 6/7th in GC in the end.

 

[movingtarget]

Back to normal. Although Mollema is traditionally bad on the day after the 2nd rest day, I think this is his real level.

Will drop to 6/7th in GC in the end.

Doubtful he will drop that much looking at the form of Aru, Quintana and others. The only real interest now is how far Porte can climb up the GC and how much can Yates and Mollema hang on. I don't see any late miracles from Aru or Quintana, I think they will lose more time.

 

[Tonton]

Back to normal. Although Mollema is traditionally bad on the day after the 2nd rest day, I think this is his real level.

Will drop to 6/7th in GC in the end.

Doubtful he will drop that much looking at the form of Aru, Quintana and others. The only real interest now is how far Porte can climb up the GC and how much can Yates and Mollema hang on. I don't see any late miracles from Aru or Quintana, I think they will lose more time.

This.

Tomorrow is huge for Mollema (and Yates), but I don't see The Great Bauke Mollema falling much. Considering "the decision", I'll cheer for him to get his podium spot.

 

[SafeBet]

The only problem for Mollema is if Astana decides to go early on stage 20 as they did in last year Vuelta. Otherwise I'd say he can hold on to a podium spot. No other contender will try much before the final climbs in stage 19-20 so he should be able to limit his losses.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Back to normal. Although Mollema is traditionally bad on the day after the 2nd rest day, I think this is his real level.

Will drop to 6/7th in GC in the end.

Always the optimist, eh?

 

[CheckMyPecs]

It is true that, with the sole exception of the 2011 Vuelta where he stayed the same, Mollema has always dropped places in the final week of GTs.where he was targeting the GC.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Done. Will fall out of top 10 tomorrow. Took too many risks in trying to attack downhill and paid the price.