Rabobank’s Robert Gesink has been forced to look towards the Vuelta a España to salvage his Grand Tour ambitions for this season, with his Tour campaign being blighted for the third time in four years. Having crashed out in 2009, finishing only 33rd in 2011 after falls in the Tour and then withdrawing yesterday due to injuries, he’s rueing a cruel run of misfortune in the French race.
The sole example of what he could do in the race came in 2010 when he placed fifth at 24 years of age.
Gesink’s latest bad luck in the Tour came as a result of the large crash which happened one week ago. He fell heavily, as did Bauke Mollema, Bram Tankink, Laurens ten Dam and Steven Kruijswijk.
Mollema and a rider who fell heavily in another crash, Mark Renshaw, also withdrew yesterday, bringing Rabobank’s Tour withdrawals to five out of the nine man squad.
Gesink was hugely frustrated, but simply didn’t recovery from the crash of one week ago. “These injuries keep bothering me. When I really go deep and breathe heavily, it stings tremendously. The ribs and the muscles around them have taken a big blow. During the Tour de France you don’t get the time to recover from this.”
Having won the Tour of California and finished fourth in the Tour de Suisse prior to the Tour, he had big ambitions prior to the Grand Depart. “It is really annoying. It feels as if I am riding around on a flat rear tyre. I just miss the power, the power I need and that was absolutely there in the first days of the Tour. It is not a sensible idea to keep riding for a sixtieth place in the overall. I’d better focus on recharging for the Vuelta now.”
Ten Dam and Kruijswijk are the best of the battle-damaged Rabobank team in 29th and 36th overall, with Luis Leon Sanchez 99th and Tankink 150th.