Ten Dam and Gesink 14th and 16th in queen stage Tour de Suisse
Laurens ten Dam and Robert Gesink came away satisfied with their performances during the queen stage of the Tour de Suisse. Behind winner Thibaut Pinot (FD), Ten Dam finished 14th, while Gesink crossed the line 16th and moved up to the 11thplace in the general classification.
“I’m quite satisfied”, Laurens ten Dam said after the race. “But it should have been better if I finished more in front, of course. I accelerated in a small turn. At that moment, Simon Spilak (Team Katusha) passed me while riding at his big cogwheel. That was too much for me as the climb had an average percentage of 13 percent. That was demoralising. I blew myself up a little bit after that. That was the reason that I wasn’t able to follow the first group.”
Own pace
Robert Gesink wasn’t dissatisfied by his performance either. “You need these kind of stages to take the next step”, he added. “The last climb was very hard. It was steep and in the end, we were at very high altitude. You’re breathing very heavily from the beginning. I chose to do the ascent at my own pace. The final result is not too bad. I gave everything I had and it surely is a step in the right direction.”
Challenge
“You’re always hoping for more”, sports director NicoVerhoeven judged after the stage. “But it’s just their level at this moment. On the other hand, Robert is moving up to the 11thplace in the general classification, and the top-10 is a possibility for them. That’s a nice challenge. The upcoming stage will be interesting. Tomorrow, everything is wide open again. It could become a bunch sprint, but there has to be a team who wants to control it.”
