Gesink annoyed at criticism

frenchfighter

"Just look at the results! I started in eight grand tours and I've finished four times in the top ten. Go through this hotel once again and find a rider who has also done so. You won't find one, you know ... "

"I'm fucking 27 years old," Gesink (Team Blanco) told AD.nl. "Of course there is something wrong once, but it's not like we have keep a magnifying glass on Robert Gesink.”

He admitted that he has not won a lot, “but I have shown some wonderful things. But that step to win a grand tour is not so easy. And besides that it is very easy to forget that I broke my leg and I lost my dad. Okay, this season the level is a bit disappointing. But I really do not see why I cannot go back to my old level."

"It is not easy for a Dutch rider at the moment," he said, after all of the recent doping revelations. “In the Netherlands we are now all very critical. (....) I have made the choice to do it in a good way and then you get criticised when you don't win 20 races a year."

goonz

Good on him to speak his mind. It seems he feels he is being impeded by the dopers out there. Or something along those lines without saying it.

bigmat

I like that last paragraph.

Pross

frenchfighter wrote:

"Just look at the results! I started in eight grand tours and I've finished four times in the top ten. Go through this hotel once again and find a rider who has also done so. You won't find one, you know ... "

Yes, but he was staying at the Travel Lodge at Leicester Forest services

Next Nico Roche will be justifying himself that he has had 7 GT top 14 finishes. If Gesink considers himself a GT contender he needs to start by at least getting himself on the podium in one.

LutherB

Pross wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

"Just look at the results! I started in eight grand tours and I've finished four times in the top ten. Go through this hotel once again and find a rider who has also done so. You won't find one, you know ... "

Yes, but he was staying at the Travel Lodge at Leicester Forest services

Next Nico Roche will be justifying himself that he has had 7 GT top 14 finishes. If Gesink considers himself a GT contender he needs to start by at least getting himself on the podium in one.

inkyfingers

If he doesn't like criticism then he shouldn't have become a professional sportsman. I don't know how much stick he gets in the Dutch press, but in what I see he gets a fairly free pass compared to somebody like Wiggins, who has won far more races than he has.

He's yet to really deliver on his potential in races that really matter. I like him, but at some point he may have to reconsider his priorities.

RichN95.

The problem the Dutch riders have is that they are Dutch. That means that they are brought up through the Dutch system - big federation support and Rabo Continental - the Eton and Oxbridge of cycling educations.
This means that by their last year at u23 they are far ahead of most on the progression curve and this continues into their neo pro year. As a result the Dutch media hype them as the new Zoetemelk when in fact they are just more advanced than their contemporaries. Then the others catch up and by the time they get to the age for winning big races they have moved ahead. And as a result the Dutch media get angry.

Dekker, Gesink, Reus, Mollema, Kruijswijk, Kelderman......one day one will be the real deal, but the Dutch expect them all to be.

Pross

Wise words mate.

above_the_cows

What Rich said.

No_Ta_Doctor

The real problem with the Dutch is that they aren't Belgian.

ddraver

He need to start winning things...

I think the real problem with the Dutch is that Tall Strong men (which describes the vast majority of the Dutch) don't make good GC riders. What they need is someone else that happens to have be able to get a Dutch Passport. A Greg van Rusedski type figure (but, you know, good)

RichN95.

ddraver wrote:

He need to start winning things...

I think the real problem with the Dutch is that Tall Strong men (which describes the vast majority of the Dutch) don't make good GC riders. What they need is someone else that happens to have be able to get a Dutch Passport. A Greg van Rusedski type figure (but, you know, good)

Van Garderen has probably already got the passport.

Macaloon

If it's known that he has a GT-podium engine (if such a thing can be measured), then it's a criminal waste if he's not being coached to specifically target his weaknesses.

rick_chasey

Macaloon wrote:

If it's known that he has a GT-podium engine (if such a thing can be measured), then it's a criminal waste if he's not being coached to specifically target his weaknesses.

What, falling off?

He's struggled since his dad died. His dad was the main cycling figure in his life. Went training together every day etc.

ddraver

Macaloon wrote:

If it's known that he has a GT-podium engine (if such a thing can be measured), then it's a criminal waste if he's not being coached to specifically target his weaknesses.

If only there was a Team which looked at riders, identified their weakspots and then coached them to be the best they could be?

That would be good wouldn't it?

Richmond Racer

Bet Gesink is on a mahoosive wedge at Blanco

inkyfingers

Richmond Racer wrote:

Bet Gesink is on a mahoosive wedge at Blanco

Probably. I reckon a few Blanco riders will have to reconsider their value when they come to renew their contracts.

ddraver

We could see a major resurgence in Dutch cycling...

Crozza

inkyfingers wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Bet Gesink is on a mahoosive wedge at Blanco

Probably. I reckon a few Blanco riders will have to reconsider their value when they come to renew their contracts.

yeah, in wage discussions I bet you "reconsider your value" and ask for a paycut, doncha

inkyfingers

Crozza wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Bet Gesink is on a mahoosive wedge at Blanco

Probably. I reckon a few Blanco riders will have to reconsider their value when they come to renew their contracts.

yeah, in wage discussions I bet you "reconsider your value" and ask for a paycut, doncha

No, of course not, that's not what I meant. My point is that without Rabobank writing big cheques every year, I imagine the new team may take a different view of what certain riders are worth, and offer them smaller contracts. After all, pro cyclists aren't "employed "in the way that most of us are.

RichN95.

There was story a year or two ago that Sky were interested in Ten Dam, but when they were told what Rabo were offering him they said 'you can't be serious'' and told him to re-sign for Rabo.