The official Great Bauke Mollema thread

[IndianCyclist]

At least he could still enjoy himself in "Bocht 7"

Extremely pleasing to see that. He would have been motivated to perform better. But the Dutch fans appear to be one of the coolest in the world. They donot put pressure on their stars and are satisfied with whatever their stars can achieve.
Similar to Adam Hansen enjoying beer.

 

[TANK91]

Duh, like I said 2 weeks ago he would drop down.

No you wasn't you was saying why is anyone surprised Mollema is always top 5 material. Anyway be not bad TDF for Belkin(1st TDF) will it.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Extremely pleasing to see that. He would have been motivated to perform better. But the Dutch fans appear to be one of the coolest in the world. They donot put pressure on their stars and are satisfied with whatever their stars can achieve.
Similar to Adam Hansen enjoying beer.

That is not very true, the Dutch are usually very negative when things go wrong (ask Gesink!).

 

[Arnout]

Extremely pleasing to see that. He would have been motivated to perform better. But the Dutch fans appear to be one of the coolest in the world. They donot put pressure on their stars and are satisfied with whatever their stars can achieve.
Similar to Adam Hansen enjoying beer.

Its exactly the opposite actually.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

No you wasn't you was saying why is anyone surprised Mollema is always top 5 material. Anyway be not bad TDF for Belkin(1st TDF) will it.

No, you misinterpreted that. I say it isn't a suprise a good mollema can be top 5 if others fail (contador, rodriguez, no vandenbroeck). And that normally, he would be 7/8th (because of contador, rodriguez etc)

 

[classicomano]

Bauke bend, but he no break. Tomorrow Bauke smash

 

[theyoungest]

Surprising to see him still up there after a stage like this. Maybe the weather suited him more, even earlier in the stage he didn't look that great. He'll perform a rain dance tonight

 

[classicomano]

He said the in his interview afterwards that the last 2 days he wasnt particularly sick but just completely destroyed, halfway through the stage he felt his legs coming back. Gives some hope for tomorrow

 

[theyoungest]

He said the in his interview afterwards that the last 2 days he wasnt particularly sick but just completely destroyed, halfway through the stage he felt his legs coming back. Gives some hope for tomorrow

He also said he's on antibiotics, so he must at least have been somewhat sick. But yeah, if you finish the Alpe d'Huez 2 minutes behind Contador, it can't have been particularly awful.

Next year just do absolutely nothing before the Tour, ride prep races as prep races, and not to win. The guy is just spent.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He was pretty good again the last 2 days though. I think he really was sick.

 

[Aapjes]

It's disappointing that we now don't know what his real level in the 3rd week is, absent illness. I don't think his 3rd week in the Vuelta 2011 was that bad, was it?

 

[Thibaut Pinot]

Contrary to initial reports, Mollema has GC-ambitions for the Vuelta. I'm curious whether he'll manage to be in form on time. Last year, LTD proved it's possible to do Tour-many crits-Vuelta.

 

[all_in]

Contrary to initial reports, Mollema has GC-ambitions for the Vuelta. I'm curious whether he'll manage to be in form on time. Last year, LTD proved it's possible to do Tour-many crits-Vuelta.

Ten Dam doesn't ride TdF for GC last year.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

That being said. Mollema always needed many races to get in form. This is the first year he didn't really need many (he was pretty much good instantly this season). But still shows he can handle many races. But 2 GT's in a short time was even too hard for Froome last year

 

[perico]

It's disappointing that we now don't know what his real level in the 3rd week is, absent illness. I don't think his 3rd week in the Vuelta 2011 was that bad, was it?

The great world of "what ifs." What if VdV didn't crash every year? We'll never know. What if Gesink wasn't so fragile? What if Jan hadn't of waited? What if Festina wasn't thrown out of the 1998 Tour? What if C-A-T really spelled DOG? The great unknowns.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

7th in AGR, 4th in FW, currently looking to improve his best ardennes tripple of his career..
In 2012 he was 10th (agr), 7th (fw) and 6th (lbl). That 6th place was finishing in a group that sprinted for 3rd tho...

So if we follow that trend he should be in the top 3 of LBL. Also think in top form LBL is the race that suits him most of all classics.
Can he win? Well not likely, there always seems to be at least 1/2 stronger or faster than him.. But I thiknk a podium is well within reach

 

[classicomano]

I think its pretty clear for everybody that he will win LBL, the fight for second is still wide open though.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think its pretty clear for everybody that he will win LBL, the fight for second is still wide open though.

classic

 

[hrotha]

I just wish he'd stop trying to get meaningless top 10 placings and rode for the win every now and then.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I just wish he'd stop trying to get meaningless top 10 placings and rode for the win every now and then.

And how exactly didn't he do that today? He even tried to actually place an attack on the last climb today

 

[hrotha]

And how exactly didn't he do that today? He even tried to actually place an attack on the last climb today

That's the thing with Fleche these days, it doesn't occur to anyone that the race starts 197 km before that last climb.

 

[Arredondo]

That's the thing with Fleche these days, it doesn't occur to anyone that the race starts 197 km before that last climb.

Yeah, attacking with 30 k with on a boring course with a big peloton hunting like wolves behind you makes sense

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

That's the thing with Fleche these days, it doesn't occur to anyone that the race starts 197 km before that last climb.

So, when you hear Gilbert ad Slagter saying in an interview that they were at their max heartrate almost all the time in the last 50km, you think it would be wise to attack?

Seems to me it wasn't possible

 

[hrotha]

Yeah, attacking with 30 k with on a boring course with a big peloton hunting like wolves behind you makes sense

Of course it doesn't make sense if everything else stays the same, and it would be suicide for Mollema to do it on his own.

It's more of a peloton-wide thing.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

About as good in Suisse this year as last year.

Means no improvement, means no more progression to be made. This is it. Not much more than a lower end top 10 TDF rider.
Well, depending on how many favorites will fall out that is. If everyone somehow stays upright he's more likely to finish 11/12th

Roubaix stage could be to his advantage tho.. Mollema has little/no fear for those stages