What is wrong with Gesink?

[battery89]

Gesink will podium Tour and hopefully win a stage or 2. Hopefully do well in suisse/duaphine too, dno what he is riding.

He's had a pretty good season... Tour of Oman dominance, 2nd tirreno, 3rd pais vasco.. he is no way the dutch Wiggins..... he seems to have gone a bit backwards in the Ardennes classics but last year he was sick, year before that he tore a ligament after coming third in amstel and this year it seems is having motivational problems. despite that Gesink is still 24 also and has been one of the most consistent riders the past 3 seasons with some stellar victories.

He just needs a monument win, a Tour stage win, overall at week long stage race such as Suisse or an overall at Vuelta.. which he could easily do if he targeted imo.. to catapult him from mr consistency to a noted winner. I'm hoping that comes soon.

 

[beer_thirty]

A stunning blonde, a nun, a Dutchman and a German are sitting in a train compartment .
The train enters a tunnel and you can suddenly hear a slap.
You can see the Dutch with a red cheek when the train moves out of the tunnel.

The blonde thinks: Well, he probably wanted to grab me, but has touched the nun and she slapped him.

The nun thinks: He probably grabbed the blonde's laundry and she slapped him.

Dutch thinks: How rude...the German grabs the blonde and I'm getting slapped.

The German smiles and thinks: Hopefully the next tunnel will come soon - then I will slap the Dutchman again.

Even though you can see the punchline coming from a long ways out, I still laugh out loud at this one. Nice!!

 

[Kwibus]

Gesink will podium Tour and hopefully win a stage or 2. Hopefully do well in suisse/duaphine too, dno what he is riding.

I'm pretty sure he rides Dauphine.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

brought these over from the Transfers and Rumors thread

Yeah, there's always a few contenders crashing out or underperforming. Like Gesink himself was this year.


So? This was about the Tour.


Like who?


Fair enough. But it's based on dislike rather than reason, it seems.

why? because someone disagrees with you it is because he doesn;t like the rider? I don;t like gesink but I also think he's too one sided to ever be a podium candidate. while people as you thougth before this years tour he was a podium candidate. hilarious

and like who? there are many lined up. the colombians especially and even they crash less than gesink and are less one sided

theyoungest - I used to think it was likely that Gesink would top-5 sometime in the near future, but not anymore. I'm not saying it's impossible, but he seems too fragile to be considered a real GC threat in the world's biggest race.

It also became apparent to me that he doesn't really love pro cycling. His father seemed to motivate him like no other.

Maybe I have it all wrong.

 

[theyoungest]

why? because someone disagrees with you it is because he doesn]
No, I like arguments. I haven't seen any arguments though, apart from "I have the feeling that..."

I don;t like gesink but I also think he's too one sided to ever be a podium candidate. while people as you thougth before this years tour he was a podium candidate. hilarious

No, I didn't believe he was a podium candidate. You may have me confused with your friend Dekker_T.

and like who? there are many lined up. the colombians especially and even they crash less than gesink and are less one sided

Lol. Yes, the Colombians. Call me again when any of them does anything close to what Gesink had already done by that age.

theyoungest - I used to think it was likely that Gesink would top-5 sometime in the near future, but not anymore. I'm not saying it's impossible, but he seems too fragile to be considered a real GC threat in the world's biggest race.

Well, that's an argument: too fragile. I don't think he's necessarily more fragile than, say, Fränk Schleck, but who am I?

It also became apparent to me that he doesn't really love pro cycling. His father seemed to motivate him like no other.

You do realize that it's quite a big leap from "his father motivated him" to "he doesn't love pro cycling"?

 

[Azabael]

This could turn out well for gesink. Less pressure on him incoming from the outside world, especially with other young dutchies shining and taking the spotlight.

May he have a swift recovery.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

No, I like arguments. I haven't seen any arguments though, apart from "I have the feeling that..."


No, I didn't believe he was a podium candidate. You may have me confused with your friend Dekker_T.


Lol. Yes, the Colombians. Call me again when any of them does anything close to what Gesink had already done by that age.


Well, that's an argument: too fragile. I don't think he's necessarily more fragile than, say, Fränk Schleck, but who am I?


You do realize that it's quite a big leap from "his father motivated him" to "he doesn't love pro cycling"?

Yes, I realize that. I could have worded that better.

You say you want to talk facts. If so, then how is Gesink not more fragile than Frank Schleck? Did you forget that Frank Schleck took 1st at the 2010 Tour of Switzerland because Gesink couldn't deal with the pressure? The same thing happened in 2008 in Paris-Nice, though not with Schleck.

When Frank Schleck messes up, it's because he tends to fade during a GT and is only an average time trialist. And a poor one when he is tired. Any self doubt on his part is only logical, because let's face it, the guy wasn't a big GT talent and has pretty much made the most of his career.

The fact that Gesink, a physically more talented rider despite his comparatively young age, doesn't come close to matching Frank Schleck's palmares in GTs in the past 4 years speaks volumes. Unless you think Gesink crashing in every GT he enters and getting injured in all but one is just bad luck.

 

[Kwibus]

Wow! Somebody dug up an old thread

Gesink will wint he TdF this year! REALLY!

 

[Kvinto]

Why only this year's? I would say the last year's Tour is pretty much up to him too.

 

[theyoungest]

Yes, I realize that. I could have worded that better.

You say you want to talk facts. If so, then how is Gesink not more fragile than Frank Schleck? Did you forget that Frank Schleck took 1st at the 2010 Tour of Switzerland because Gesink couldn't deal with the pressure? The same thing happened in 2008 in Paris-Nice, though not with Schleck.

When Frank Schleck messes up, it's because he tends to fade during a GT and is only an average time trialist. And a poor one when he is tired. Any self doubt on his part is only logical, because let's face it, the guy wasn't a big GT talent and has pretty much made the most of his career.

The fact that Gesink, a physically more talented rider despite his comparatively young age, doesn't come close to matching Frank Schleck's palmares in GTs in the past 4 years speaks volumes. Unless you think Gesink crashing in every GT he enters and getting injured in all but one is just bad luck.

You talk about Paris-Nice... ironically enough it was Schleck who told Gesink to follow him on that now infamous descent, and lost the wheel of the rider in front of him. Also, Gesink was 21 back then!

I don't think it's fair to hold against the guy that he was basically our only decent cyclist for two or three years, and that when his Tour/Vuelta/Ardennes classics were over, the hopes for a Dutchman to do anything in those races were over as well.

 

[Escarabajo]

Nothing is wrong with Gesink. The only problem is that he believed too much in what the Texan said about the high cadence. If he fixes his cadence a little he will be OK.

 

[Ruudz0r]

If he stays on his bike nothing is wrong with him, even though he had a very bad year he showed his class in the early season and later on in Canada. Hope he will focus on the Vuelta next year.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Nothing is wrong with Gesink. The only problem is that he believed too much in what the Texan said about the high cadence. If he fixes his cadence a little he will be OK.

I agree with this too. his cadence is ridiuclous. ou should only right light gears if you have the explosiveness. if not stick to heavy gears. gesink is a power rider, no contador

 

[El Pistolero]

I agree with this too. his cadence is ridiuclous. ou should only right light gears if you have the explosiveness. if not stick to heavy gears. gesink is a power rider, no contador

On big climbs yes. But on hills you ride big gear if you're explosive. Overall, you're right though. But it's still better than what Scarponi uses to climb

 

[greenedge]

It's so sad he was injured in the TDF got into good form then broke his femur. He crashes a lot but oh well he has a great future ahead of him hopefully.

 

[profff]

I agree with this too. his cadence is ridiuclous. ou should only right light gears if you have the explosiveness. if not stick to heavy gears. gesink is a power rider, no contador

if you look at old footage of gesink, you see that he was not using this riducolous cadence at the beginning.i remember him in varese WC 2008 pedaling with a correct cadence.
now he really spins in a ridicolous way, bouncing on the saddle.
may be he did that because he wanted to improve his tt, but this years uphill in dauphinee he was not able anymore of creating differences with this ridicolous cadence.
i hope i goes back to correct gears, 80-90 rpm uphill, not 110!!!

 

[Havetts]

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) is confident that he can return to his best after a speedy recover from a broken leg. The Dutch climber crashed in training in September and broke his right femur, but with just under two months of rehabilitation he’s already back on the bike and talking up his chances of a successful Tour de France in 2012.

Source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ges...&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0


I guess thats where it goes wrong for next year, instead of focusing something else than a non-gesink-favourable TdF he wants to focus on it again I guess..

 

[theyoungest]

Source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ges...&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0


I guess thats where it goes wrong for next year, instead of focusing something else than a non-gesink-favourable TdF he wants to focus on it again I guess..

Well, this year's Gesink was certainly better at time trialing than climbing

 

[Havetts]

Well, this year's Gesink was certainly better at time trialing than climbing

Oh so sour yet so true.

 

[roundabout]

Depending on the success of the 2012 route it's possible that it will be a template for years to come for the Tour.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Depending on the success of the 2012 route it's possible that it will be a template for years to come for the Tour.

you could say that about every years tour

 

[roundabout]

I've read somewhere that the 2013 Tour is likely to follow the same principles as 2012.

 

[Havetts]

Mhm I thought 2013 was going to be insane in the membrane cause of the 100th edition of the Tour de France.. So I'm not sure if its going to follow the same principles as the 2012 edition.

 

[roundabout]

Hopefully it will indeed be something more special.

What suits Gesink better, Giro or Vuelta?

 

[airstream]

I do not see any direct connection between success/non-success of some edition of the Tour and desire to replicate thought very likely that Tour never was so easy in regards to mountains. Everything depends on Gesink's ambitions. Would Top-8 be considered to be a good result, for example?