Robert Gesink life and biography

Robert Gesink picture, image, poster

Robert Gesink biography

Date of birth : 1986-05-31
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Varsseveld, Gelderland, Netherlands
Nationality : Dutch
Category : Sports
Last modified : 2010-07-21
Credited as : Cyclist for Team Rabobank, participating on Tour de France, UCI ProTour

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

CAREER
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. At that time still driving for team de peddelaars in Aalten. After this rather successful WC he went to team Lowik-Van Losser for one year. 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.

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.

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. 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.

In 2009, Gesink finished fourth overall in the Dauphiné. He started his first Tour de France but broke his wrist during a crash on stage 5. He completed the stage, but had to withdraw from the Tour due to his injuries. He recovered in time to enter into the Vuelta a España. He finished the Vuelta a España in 6th place, he was in 2nd place, but due to a fall where he sustained deep cuts in his knee, he was too injured to keep up in the final mountain stage. Afterwards Gesink focused on regaining his form for the World Championships in Mendrisio, but he wasn't recovered fast enough and finished off the pace. However, a week later he was back to his old self and took the victory in the Giro dell'Emilia, beating Jakob Fuglsang and Thomas Lövkvist to the line in a sprint uphill. He also took 6th place in the Giro di Lombardia and finished the season as 10th on the UCI World Ranking.

Gesink’s schedule for 2010 was about the same as that of 2009, only this time he did manage to get a good result in the Tirreno-Adriatico (5th). Because of the absence of, among others, Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans, he started as one of the favorites for the Tour of the Basque Country. He impressed during the most important stage, was in the top 3 and even had a chance at winning the tour, when in stage 5 he fell once again. Eventually he finished 9th and seemed to have the form he needed for the “klassiekers” (classic events). Unfortunately this was not the case. In the Amstel Gold Race, the Waalse Pijl and Luik-Bastenaken-Luik he had a disappointing race and couldn’t compete for the victory. After that he went on altitude training in the Sierra Nevada. He didn’t compete in any events for a while, while focusing on the Tour de France. His form showed during the Tour de Suisse, where he was victorious in the most difficult stage. With this win he took over the leader’s jersey from Tony Martin. In the closing time trial he had a bad day and lost his leading position to Frank Schleck. He finally finished as 5th.

Palmares:

2004
Netherlands U19 Individual time trial Championship

2006
1st Overall, Circuito Montañés
1st, Stage 6
1st Overall, Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
1st, Stage 3
2nd Overall, Tour de l'Avenir
3rd Overall, Volta ao Algarve
4th, Rund um Köln
6th, U23 World Championship, Road Race

2007
1st, Young Rider Classification, Tour of California
1st, Stage 4, Tour of Belgium
2nd overall, Tour de Pologne
5th Overall, Deutschland Tour
1st, Young Rider Classification

2008
4th Overall, Paris-Nice
1st, Young Rider Classification
4th, La Flèche Wallonne
4th Overall, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
7th Overall, Vuelta a España
9th Overall, Tour of California
1st, Stage 3
1st, Young Rider Classification
10th Road Race World Championships
10th Olympic Road Race
10th Olympic Time Trial

2009
7th Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
3rd, Amstel Gold Race
4th Overall, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
2nd, Stage 7
8th Overall, Tour of California
1st, Youth Classification
6th, Overall, Vuelta a España
1st, Giro dell'Emilia
6th, Giro di Lombardia

2010
8th Overall, Tour Méditerranéen
5th Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
1st Youth Classification, Tirreno-Adriatico
8th Overall, Vuelta al Pais Vasco
5th Overall Tour de Suisse
1st, Stage 6

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