Gesink maintains 7th place in Tour de France
Robert Gesink held his seventh place in the general classification of the Tour de France. He finished 26th and just behind the top five overall in the 14th stage to Mende. Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) won the stage from an escape.
The day didn’t start as well as Team LottoNL-Jumbo wanted. Robert Gesink, Tom Leezer and Laurens ten Dam were involved in a crash early in the stage and Laurens ten Dam fell another time, afterwards. “It was a double setback for me today,” Ten Dam said after the race. “I started the day with antibiotics because I had some respiratory problems. Afterwards, I fell two times and in that second crash those old scars began to bleed again. I hope that my lungs recover quickly and fully because my legs are feeling strong.”
Setting the pace
“The little crash I was involved in was nothing serious,” Gesink added. “I only had to chase for twenty kilometres to return to the peloton afterwards. Besides that, I was feeling fine. That last climb was an annoying one. It was hectic, but I started climbing in a good position at the front of the group. In the end, I finished in a group with my main competitors and I was setting the pace.”
Nico Verhoeven
Team LottoNL-Jumbo wasn’t part of the early breakaway of twenty riders, but that was a deliberate decision. “We had other priorities,” sports director, Nico Verhoeven said. “We wanted to deliver Robert in good position at the foot of the climb. He came out at the right place eventually. Of course, we were a little scared after his crash, but there isn’t that much damage.”
Verhoeven expects that the stage on Sunday is going to end up in a bunch sprint. “It’s the last day in which the sprinters have a chance until Paris. I guess they will aim for it."
