The Blanco Pro Cycling Team has completed the selection for the Tour de France. Bauke Mollema is the definitive leader of the team while Robert Gesink will be given a free role even though he is expected to support Mollema in the mountains. Mollema will strive for a top spot in the overall classification. A stage win is another primary goal for the team.

“We have geared our team around Bauke”, stated Sports Director Nico Verhoeven. “We are looking to score a good classification with him. We are aiming for the top ten but in fact we’re simply trying for the maximum achievable. We could say that we’d like Bauke to finish fourth, but if he then finishes fourth when second was within grasp, I’d say we’d be less satisfied. But if it turns out that he is seventh and that is the best result we could have expected, then we’d be happy with that.”

In the run-up to the Tour Verhoeven saw a promising Mollema. “In the Tour of Switzerland, Bauke showed that he was ready in the way he rode and led the team. On top of a good GC, we would like to take a stage win.”

Mollema will be supported in France by his teammates Lars Boom, Laurens ten Dam, Robert Gesink, Tom Leezer, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Bram Tankink, Sep Vanmarcke and Maarten Wynants.

Verhoeven: “Robert will have a relatively open role, but will be expected to take care of Bauke in the high mountain stages together with Laurens. Nordhaug and Boom are dangerous stage pirates but also understand what it means to be a domestique. Bram is our road captain and Maarten is an all-rounder who has proven his worth in the big tours. Sep and Tom formed a good team with Bauke in the Tour de Suisse and kept him out of trouble in the run-up to the mountains.”

The Tour de France starts Saturday 29 June.

Blanco line-up for the Tour de France:

Lars Boom, Laurens ten Dam, Robert Gesink, Tom Leezer, Bauke Mollema, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Bram Tankink, Sep Vanmarcke and Maarten Wynants