Robert Gesink (Blanco) battled successfully for the stage win at La Punt in the 2010 Tour de Suisse and his teammate Bauke Mollema came close to the victory today. The rider from Groningen finished just centimetres behind Rui Costa (Movistar) in the seventh stage.

“It’s a darn shame”, said Mollema who was unfortunate in the finale. Halfway down the last descent, he was a hundred metres behind both Rui Costa and Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) who had broken away. Just before he had chased them down, an archway had blown over on the parcours and blocked Mollema, costing him the 100 metres he had just gained.

Ultimately, Mollema could reel in the break. “At five hundred metres from the finish line, I had joined them only Rui Costa was a tad faster in the sprint. I actually thought there was another rider in front of us, so I did not realize we were sprinting for the win.”

With this fine result, Mollema climbed closer to the leaders of the GC. He is still in fifth, but his deficit to yellow jersey wearer Mathias Frank (BMC Racing Team) is now 1’08” – an improvement of some 46 seconds. “That’s a real plus. The form is good and we’ll see Sunday [on the mountain time trial on the Flumserberg climb] just what I am capable of.”