The official Great Bauke Mollema thread

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theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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Zinoviev Letter said:
I don't think that there's anything ridiculous about Mollema going for a Tour top 10 at all. He has the talent and if he's improved his GC riding from his excellent Vuelta a season and a half ago, he could do it.

That said, it does seem strange to me for Mollema to ride for GC while Gesink stage hunts. Mollema has a better small group sprint and also is much more likely to be let up the road than a relatively big name like Gesink, while Gesink has already shown he can get a good GC result at the Tour. Let Mollema lose some time and then chase stages and the KoM.

The only way that particular division of labour makes sense to me is if Gesink is making a real run at the Vuelta central to his season.

(Speaking of Dutch GC hopes, Kruijswijck seems to have fallen off the side of the earth since his breakthrough Giro).
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Kruijswijk was maybe a bit overraced in that breakout year. He also did the Vuelta, and he complained about back pain there. Last year he did the Tour, and he crashed in the massive pile-up. He was in a few breakaways but nothing spectacular.

He still got top-10 in Suisse and Utah though, FWIW. Maybe we'll see him reappear this week in Romandie.
 
Pentacycle

Pentacycle

May 28, 2012
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theyoungest said:
Kruijswijk was maybe a bit overraced in that breakout year. He also did the Vuelta, and he complained about back pain there. Last year he did the Tour, and he crashed in the massive pile-up. He was in a few breakaways but nothing spectacular.

He still got top-10 in Suisse and Utah though, FWIW. Maybe we'll see him reappear this week in Romandie.
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It would be a big accomplishment to get back to his previous level. He doesn't seem likely to progress any further than that.

Mollema can do something in the Tour, as long as he regains his form which let him follow great climbers like Bisonte, Danny Boy, Wiggo and the Dawg.
 
l.Harm

l.Harm

Jul 24, 2011
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Zinoviev Letter said:
I don't think that there's anything ridiculous about Mollema going for a Tour top 10 at all. He has the talent and if he's improved his GC riding from his excellent Vuelta a season and a half ago, he could do it.

That said, it does seem strange to me for Mollema to ride for GC while Gesink stage hunts. Mollema has a better small group sprint and also is much more likely to be let up the road than a relatively big name like Gesink, while Gesink has already shown he can get a good GC result at the Tour. Let Mollema lose some time and then chase stages and the KoM.

The only way that particular division of labour makes sense to me is if Gesink is making a real run at the Vuelta central to his season.

(Speaking of Dutch GC hopes, Kruijswijck seems to have fallen off the side of the earth since his breakthrough Giro).
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Very hard to focus on GC in Giro ánd Tour. Gesink doesn't know yet whether he is going to ride the Tour. He only does it when he's relatively fresh after the Giro.

I'd like if he'd take a break after the Giro and then focussing on Vuelta/Worlds, but I don't see that happen.
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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l.Harm said:
Very hard to focus on GC in Giro ánd Tour. Gesink doesn't know yet whether he is going to ride the Tour. He only does it when he's relatively fresh after the Giro.

I'd like if he'd take a break after the Giro and then focussing on Vuelta/Worlds, but I don't see that happen.
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The Vuelta doesn't suit him, with all those Purito finishes.
 
l.Harm

l.Harm

Jul 24, 2011
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Agree, but still he could go for top 5, depending on the field. He already got 7th there when he was only 22.
 
Pentacycle

Pentacycle

May 28, 2012
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theyoungest said:
The Vuelta doesn't suit him, with all those Purito finishes.
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His best finish last year was on one of those hills though. And the Tour doesn't suit him altogether, if he does one good GT performance in the Giro/Vuelt this season, he can always be the back-up leader of a bigger team next year.
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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l.Harm said:
Agree, but still he could go for top 5, depending on the field. He already got 7th there when he was only 22.
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He was a better climber then, and the course wasn't as catered to Purito as the last few years.

Pentacycle said:
His best finish last year was on one of those hills though. And the Tour doesn't suit him altogether, if he does one good GT performance in the Giro/Vuelt this season, he can always be the back-up leader of a bigger team next year.
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That's true, if such a climb is really steep and really hard he comes to the fore. But in terms of the course, the Tour suits him the best. In terms of the actual racing, maybe not.
 
1

18-Valve. (pithy)

May 4, 2011
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theyoungest said:
He was a better climber then, and the course wasn't as catered to Purito as the last few years.


That's true, if such a climb is really steep and really hard he comes to the fore. But in terms of the course, the Tour suits him the best. In terms of the actual racing, maybe not.
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The Giro and Tour courses actually suit him the least. Proper hard mountain stages hurt him more than anything, and the only GT that doesn't have those is the Vuelta. (Although they made a bit of an effort this year with the Peyragudes stage, but it still doesn't compare)
 
El Pistolero

El Pistolero

Jul 16, 2010
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will10 said:
You mean like VDB2?
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I'm not a fan of VDB2, so not sure what your point is.

Though I highly doubt Mollema can beat VDB2 in the Tour GC in a straight up duel. Lotto have Greipel, won 4 Tour stages in his career remember.
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
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After 3 years of 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, he finally does it again :D

Nice season list so far also
3rd on Mont Faron
3th, 4th and 3rd in Andalucia
2nd in Murcia
2nd in Chieti (tirreno)
3rd on Porto Vecchio and 4th in GC (Crit Int)
3rd in a stage in Norway and 4th in GC

Lol
 
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Lanark

May 12, 2010
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Last year he showed some improvement in the classics (and a good Pais Basque), but he climbed poor. It's good to see he found his climbing legs back this year.
 
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theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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Gloin22 said:
Not if he improved his TT, imho.
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You mean not if he hasn't improved his TT?

Yeah, I have no idea how Mollema will fare in a mountain TT. And actually I think the strongest rider in this race is Ryder Hesjedal.
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
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Mollema seems to do quite well in hilly and mountain ITT's.

Pure flat ITT's are the worst for him, but that goes for many GC contenders. Overal he's not exactly terrible at ITT's. Very good at prologues and short hilly time trials, good on longer hilly time trials. Decent on flat time trials both long and medium long, but not enough to limit the damage to real time trial power houses
 
classicomano

classicomano

BANNED
May 5, 2011
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Cant feel too bad, he got dropped in the descent after all. Ill be ****ed though if he bosses the ITT and comes in 2nd by 20 seconds or so :eek:
 
Dekker_Tifosi

Dekker_Tifosi

Mar 13, 2009
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lower end top 10 if he has no off-days. So somewhere from 6th to 10th
With ofcourse some 2nd to 5th places in less hard mountain stages :p

He is susceptibele to off days in high mountains though. On Prato di Tivo for instance
 
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theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
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Mollema was very angry with his DS Blijlevens today. The DS told him through the radio that Spilak was in front, so he thought he was sprinting for 2nd place. He said he didn't give everything in the sprint, only to hear afterwards that in fact Spilak was way behind.

Second instance of Blanco fail in this race costing Mollema dearly. The first one being the 20 sec time penalty in the first stage.
 
K

Kokoso

Apr 22, 2012
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
lower end top 10 if he has no off-days. So somewhere from 6th to 10th
With ofcourse some 2nd to 5th places in less hard mountain stages :p

He is susceptibele to off days in high mountains though. On Prato di Tivo for instance
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He seems like a nice guy, it's hard not to root for him. Especially with his descending after today's TdS stage. Do you think Gesink is actually a threat for his leadership, or shall he be a sole leader?
 
Afrank

Afrank

Aug 16, 2011
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theyoungest said:
Mollema was very angry with his DS Blijlevens today. The DS told him through the radio that Spilak was in front, so he thought he was sprinting for 2nd place. He said he didn't give everything in the sprint, only to hear afterwards that in fact Spilak was way behind.

Second instance of Blanco fail in this race costing Mollema dearly. The first one being the 20 sec time penalty in the first stage.
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Well, I know one solution to those kind of problems. When your coming to the end of the race and are in contention for a good placing, you always leave it all out there.
 
T

theyoungest

Jan 11, 2010
15,613
4,551
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Afrank said:
Well, I know one solution to those kind of problems. When your coming to the end of the race and are in contention for a good placing, you always leave it all out there.
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Sprinting for the win is different. Ask Mark Cavendish or Oscar Freire.
 
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