Netting the award for the third consecutive time, climbing specialist Robert Gesink was today named as Dutch rider of the year. The 24 year old won out ahead of Rabobank team-mates Koos Moerenhout and Bauke Mollema, in voting carried by WielerMagazine, the visitors to Wielerland.nl and also former professionals in Club 48.
Gesink had a fine season, further underlining his position as the most promising of the young Dutch riders. He won the Giro dell’Emilia and the ProTour GP Cycliste de Montréal, netted third in the ProTour GP Cycliste de Québec and was fifth overall in both Tirreno Adriatico and the Tour de Suisse. Importantly, he was also sixth overall in the Tour de France and finished second in the best young rider award behind Andy Schleck.
It was Gesink’s first time to finish the race, having dropped out of last year’s event with a broken wrist.
The award is a little lift for Gesink, who is still coming to terms with the tragic death of his father in October. He crashed while on a mountainbike in the Bart Brentjens Challenge in South Limburg, and passed away two weeks afterwards.
Gesink is likely to be the Rabobank team’s sole leader for the Tour next season, as Denis Menchov has left the team and gone to Team Geox-TMC. Menchov was third in this year’s Tour, but faces an uncertain participation next year after his squad was passed over for a ProTeam licence.