The official Great Bauke Mollema thread

[jens_attacks]

Green tea. Good company for alberto.

 

[movingtarget]

And then he finally choses for another GT then the Tour, and then Quintana, Nibali, Aru and others decide to turn up probably will end up 4th or something

He will contest for the bad-luck competition with Kruijswijk

Only cause Gesink got sick of winning that one and Richie Porte always figures highly as well !

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Putting the "great" back in "great Bauke Mollema" again today

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Putting the "great" back in "great Bauke Mollema" again today

Was thinking something similar.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Certainly was great today. Most impressive solo ride of the Tour, if you ask me.

 

[Yingge]

Finally, TGBM again, congratulations to Bauke.

 

[Christian]

Congrats to Bauke Mollema, that was a great ride!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Fantastic ride, very happy for him. A second stage is a real possibility. I prefer him in this mode than as a GC rider, but the economics of the sport dictate that if you can ride GC, you ride GC.

I'm curious about his status in the team next year. He was (perfectly understandably) second fiddle to Contador in this year's plans, but will that change?

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Fantastic ride, very happy for him. A second stage is a real possibility. I prefer him in this mode than as a GC rider, but the economics of the sport dictate that if you can ride GC, you ride GC.

I'm curious about his status in the team next year. He was (perfectly understandably) second fiddle to Contador in this year's plans, but will that change?

He said he'll lead Trek's GC ambitions in Le Tour 2018.

He certainly wants to prove that he's better than 6-10 on GC.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Fantastic ride, very happy for him. A second stage is a real possibility. I prefer him in this mode than as a GC rider, but the economics of the sport dictate that if you can ride GC, you ride GC.

I'm curious about his status in the team next year. He was (perfectly understandably) second fiddle to Contador in this year's plans, but will that change?

To be honest, I don't see him win another stage. There are only two options left that I can see (17 & 18) and he hasn't been climbing well enough to win either.

Next year, he will be allowed to go for GC in his beloved TDF again, hanging on at the back of the favorites group to finish in the lower regions of the top-10. IMO, what he did today is far better than any of his TDF GC results!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Fantastic ride, very happy for him. A second stage is a real possibility. I prefer him in this mode than as a GC rider, but the economics of the sport dictate that if you can ride GC, you ride GC.

I'm curious about his status in the team next year. He was (perfectly understandably) second fiddle to Contador in this year's plans, but will that change?

To be honest, I don't see him win another stage. There are only two options left that I can see (17 & 18) and he hasn't been climbing well enough to win either.

Next year, he will be allowed to go for GC in his beloved TDF again, hanging on at the back of the favorites group to finish in the lower regions of the top-10. IMO, what he did today is far better than any of his TDF GC results!

I certainly agree with your last point. To be fair to Mollema, he has started to convert his strong performances into occasional victories and now has a palmares a bit more commensurate with his abilities than he had a few years ago. But I hate the way that minor place riding is so strongly incentivised by the sport's structure and Mollema is a prime exhibit on that score.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

Fantastic ride, very happy for him. A second stage is a real possibility. I prefer him in this mode than as a GC rider, but the economics of the sport dictate that if you can ride GC, you ride GC.

I'm curious about his status in the team next year. He was (perfectly understandably) second fiddle to Contador in this year's plans, but will that change?

To be honest, I don't see him win another stage. There are only two options left that I can see (17 & 18) and he hasn't been climbing well enough to win either.

Next year, he will be allowed to go for GC in his beloved TDF again, hanging on at the back of the favorites group to finish in the lower regions of the top-10. IMO, what he did today is far better than any of his TDF GC results!

To be fair he was doing really well last year until his crash.

 

[Tonton]

Deserved win. He took his chance, bet that the chase would not be organized, was strong down the stretch. Nice.

 

[jmdirt]

NICE RIDE BAUKE!

 

[SoigneurNL]

Re: Re:

Fantastic ride, very happy for him. A second stage is a real possibility. I prefer him in this mode than as a GC rider, but the economics of the sport dictate that if you can ride GC, you ride GC.

I'm curious about his status in the team next year. He was (perfectly understandably) second fiddle to Contador in this year's plans, but will that change?

To be honest, I don't see him win another stage. There are only two options left that I can see (17 & 18) and he hasn't been climbing well enough to win either.

Next year, he will be allowed to go for GC in his beloved TDF again, hanging on at the back of the favorites group to finish in the lower regions of the top-10. IMO, what he did today is far better than any of his TDF GC results!

To be fair he was doing really well last year until his crash.

This, 100%. He could have gotten a fantastic GC result last year if he hadn't crashed. It shows he is able to compete for Top 5 is he's at his absolute best.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I'm pretty sure he would have finished 2nd or 3rd last year. He fell when he attacked in the descend and wasn't far behind Bardet who just attacked before. But oh well. There'll be chances in the next few years, he's 30. Still a few good years left

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Great win for Mollema today. He is so much better as an attacking rider.

 

[hayneplane]

Re:

Great win for Mollema today. He is so much better as an attacking rider.

He seems to have found a niche as a hilly classics and grand tour stagehunter.

Trek will get more bang for their buck if they let him ride 2 grand tours next year as a stage hunter deluxe rather than wasting nervous energy trying to cling on for an 8th on GC without really shining on any individual stage.

 

[F_Cance]

Looking really strong right now. Maybe he can finally podium a GT.

 

[SafeBet]

Don't get hyped up. He's often very strong at the beginning of GTs. Remember Tour 2016? Or Giro 2017?

Third week will always be the key for him.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Re:

Don't get hyped up. He's often very strong at the beginning of GTs. Remember Tour 2016? Or Giro 2017?

Third week will always be the key for him.

This, it was a great performance, but he also did really good tts in the 2017 Giro and we still haven't seen a single mountain stage.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

TGBM!

Well, he does have quite a buffer on some of the better climbers now. I can see him going in the top 5 with a bit of luck.

 

[F_Cance]

And looks like Top 5 it is. A very good result for him. TGBM the legend. His second best GT results wise.

 

[SafeBet]

Result aside, is this his best ever performance in a GT? The way he handled the third week really surprised me, I thought he was going to crack badly either on Tuesday or today.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Like I said before the whole 'mollema 3rd week' thing is a myth of epic proportions. 3 of the 4 times he had it happened it was because of a crash. And the first time he got ill. All the other times same level als normal.

That being said, he is a 6-10 level rider who has to get a bit lucky with the circumstances to hit top 5 or perhaps podium. This was his best GT in level and luck so far. No bad thing happened for once