Bauke Mollema is in his fourth year with the ProTour outfit of Rabobank and made a giant leap forward. His fourth place in the Vuelta a España showed the potential he has for Grand Tours and his win of the Vuelta Points classification underlines the consistent riding he can maintain over three weeks.
Out of the 21 Vuelta stages he finished in the top-ten ten times and Mollema was happy with his year overall. "It was a nice season," he said on rabosport.nl. "I was very consistent throughout the season, with a few nice peaks." He is now enjoying the off season. "I go into the winter with a good feeling."
His best race was the Vuelta a España. "That was the highlight of my season," he says. "It was a very nice tour. The whole three weeks I was very consistent." The points classification in the Vuelta is not geared towards the sprinters, unlike in the Tour de France. Mollema was able to win it thanks to his many high placings, even though he missed a stage win.
He still had podium time after achieving one of his biggest successes. "I also had the leader's jersey, so that was an ideal tour." In stage nine from Villacastin to La Covatilla he lost the sprint to Garmin-Cervélo's Daniel Martin, but received the red jersey for the leader in the general classification. He lost it the next day, but the memory will stay with him.
In the future he hopes to have a Grand Tour leader's jersey after the final stage. "I didn't really have a bad day [this year], so that is giving me confidence for the future that I can present myself at a high level."
He is eyeing the Tour de France for next year, which is one for the allrounders. There are less mountain top finishes than in the past. "I think that I am a good allrounder, I showed that in the Vuelta. There are a lot of time trial kilometers, that is less suited to me." He acknowledged that he just had to deal with the route the way it is being presented.
He sees chances to make up for potential lost time in the race against the clock. "There are enough stages in the medium and a little less high mountains, so that should suit me well."
He has every intention of going for the overall classification in 2012, after a 2011 Tour to forget. In Paris he was 70th overall.