Tour de France Team Previews – Rabobank

Team: Robert Gesink, Bauke Mollema, Steven Kruijswijk, Luis Leon Sanchez, Laurens Ten Dam, Mark Renshaw, Maarten Tjallingii, Bram Tankink, Maarten Wynants

Team Goals: Place on final podium, win stages

Team Analysis: This is a strong team, but it likely has one too many captains. We saw last year with Bradley Wiggins' crash for Team Sky that having only one GC hope can equal a total disaster if GC is the main goal. That said, having more than two GC options can become a big problem, especially if there is no hierarchy or one does not want to ride as a domestique when called. Given that Mollema and Kruijwijk are both of basically equal level and there is no hierarchy between them, this could be a problem, especially if Gesink falters. That said, Gesink is the best hop for a high finish. He won the Tour of California and finished 4^th at the Tour de Suisse. Meanwhile, Mollema and Kruijwijk have had middling at best starts to the season. Considering that, maybe this team would have been better off splitting its GC hopes. Gesink was always going to France, but either Mollema or Kruijwijk probably should have been on the Giro-Vuelta plan, especially since Rabobank was awful at the Giro with no plan of action or results to speak of for anyone and seems to have not thought ahead to the Vuelta at all (especially with the World Championships on home soil).

After the GC, there is no hope (unless one of the GC guys wins a stage). Renshaw is still learning how to really sprint after years as a lead out man and he has no support at all. Because of the presence of 3 GC guys, there won't be any breakaway attempts from this team until all are out of the running and that isn't likely until the very end. In other words, its mountains or bust, in a year where the course suits time trial specialists more than climbers. Typical Rabobank mismanagement.

Prospects: Gesink is a real threat for a top five and a possible winner if Wiggins blows up in the mountains the final week and defending champ Cadel Evans has suddenly aged more than it seems. One of Kruijwijk and Mollema will finish in the back end of the top 10 as well while the other will become the superdomestique for this race before taking on solo team leadership for the Vuelta.

As for the rest, Renshaw will have a steady stream of 4^th and 5^th place finishes in the sprints with maybe a 2^nd. Ten Dam will be a good domestique as usual and Sanchez will be the one guy who gets some leeway to go into breaks early in the race if he chooses (remember that he won the infamous Johnny Hoogerland hit by a car stage from the break last year).

Still, this race is all about GC for Rabobank. If Gesink wins the race nothing else matters and the entire season was a success even if the team wins no more races until next year. If Gesink (or one of the others) finishes on the podium, it will validate the whole approach to the season Rabobank has taken. If not, it is time to re-evaluate and split some of this firepower up between races (much like what was done last year, top 10 for Kruijwijk in Giro, top 5 for Mollema in Vuelta, in a very successful season outside of France where Gesink crashed early and never recovered).