Robert Gesink

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Robert Gesink

Robert Gesink 2008
Personal information
Full name	Robert Gesink
Nickname	The Condor of Varsseveld
Date of birth	May 31, 1986 (1986-05-31) (age 22)
Country	Netherlands
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Current team	Rabobank
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing Specialist
Amateur team(s)
2005 2006	Löwik Meubelen Rabobank Continental
Professional team(s)1
2007–	Rabobank
Major wins
Tour of Belgium, 1 stage Tour of California, 1 stage
Infobox last updated on:
August 15, 2007 1 Team names given are those prevailing at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Robert Gesink (born May 31, 1986 in Varsseveld) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Rabobank. With his natural climbing capabilities Gesink is being touted as one of the biggest prospects of the sport.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early years 1.2 2007 1.3 2008 2 Palmarès 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

At the Junior World Championships of 2004 UCI Road World Championships in Verona, Gesink finished eighth in the individual time trial and sixth in the road race. He joined the Rabobank Continental team in 2006. He finished third overall in Volta ao Algarve and won the overall classification and the third stage of Settimana Ciclista Lombarda. He later won a stage and the overall classification of the Circuito Montañés and finished second in the prestigious Tour de l'Avenir. Gesink initially signed a two year deal with Rabobank Continental but team manager Theo de Rooij decided to move him to the Rabobank UCI ProTeam for the 2007 season.^[1]

[edit] 2007

In his first year as professional cyclist he immediately impressed by winning the young riders jersey in the Tour of California. He went on to impress by finishing 9th in his first UCI Pro Tour race ever, in La Flèche Wallonne, where it was calculated Gesink had done the fastest climb of the Mur de Huy. After riding another top 15 in the Tour de Romandie won by his teammate Thomas Dekker, he finally won his first race as professional at the queen stage in the Tour of Belgium riding away from everyone on Côte de La Redoute. After again impressing in the Clásica de San Sebastián, riding just outside the top ten, he finished 5th in the Deutschland Tour and second in the Tour de Pologne. He subsequently got selected for the UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart, where he did a lot of work in the early breakaway and eventually quit that race in the last lap. But in the Giro di Lombardia he showed good form again by finishing as 15th.

[edit] 2008

In his 2nd year as professional, in 2008, he showed progression by winning the hardest stage in the Tour of California, Gesink rode away on the final climb, with only Levi Leipheimer holding his wheel. They stayed ahead on the final 35 kilometers of downhill and flat and Leipheimer didn't contest Gesink in the sprint. Gesink won the young riders jersey again and finished 9th in the general classification. In the Paris-Nice he finished second in the stage up to Mont Serein, five kilometers before the top of Mont Ventoux, where he was outsprinted by Cadel Evans. He then lost the jersey in the penultimate stage to Cannes, when he got isolated on the Col de Tanneron which, together with Gesink's overly careful descent, allowed Davide Rebellin to take the leader's jersey. He finished fourth in the overall classification, 51 seconds behind Rebellin, which won Gesink the youth classification.^[2] He also finished twelfth in Vuelta al País Vasco and completed a successful Ardennes classics by finishing fourth in La Flèche Wallonne. In september, he then finished seventh in his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España.

[edit] Palmarès

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fanhyve
• Personal website
• Profile at Rabobank official website
• Palmarès at Trap-Friis.dk
• Robert Gesink profile at the Cycling Website

v • d • e Riders on Rabobank Mauricio Ardila | Lars Boom | Graeme Brown | Stef Clement | Bram de Groot | Marc de Maar | Juan Antonio Flecha | Rick Flens | Óscar Freire | Juan Manuel Gárate | Robert Gesink | Mathew Hayman | Pedro Horrillo | Dmitri Kozontchuk | Sebastian Langeveld | Tom Leezer | Paul Martens | Denis Menchov | Koos Moerenhout | Bauke Mollema | Grischa Niermann | Nick Nuyens | Joost Posthuma | Kai Reus | Tom Stamsnijder | Bram Tankink | Laurens ten Dam | Maarten Tjallingii | Pieter Weening | Jos van Emden | Manager: Erik Breukink

Persondata
NAME	Gesink, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH	1986-05-31
PLACE OF BIRTH	Varsseveld, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH