Known as a pure climbers, Laurens Ten Dam and Robert Gesink are already looking forward to the 2015 edition of the Tour de France, which will kick off in Utrecht on July 4th. With only 42 kilometers against the clock, Dutchmen naturally find the atypical route favourable, but warn about a hectic opening week of competition with tough finishes, cobbles and dangerous crosswinds.

“Naturally, I’m relaxed about this route because of reduced time trials. It as made for the climbers,” Ten Dam told NUsport.  

“They wanted to provide all general classification contenders with fair chances and have made it a lot harder than in previous years. It makes things exciting,” Gesink added.

The 28-year old Belkin Procycling (Team Lotto NL-Jumbo) rider also claims that he is not worried about the cobbles they will be forced to tackle during the 2015 Tour opening week.

“I’m not as light as, for example, Quintana, so I’ll get through those cobbles with my seventy pounds. This year it [stage 5] added a lot to the spectacle and I honestly think that I’m not so bad at that.”

“Perhaps I should ride some classics in spring to get the right feeling,” Gesink explained.

Apart from the cobbled stage, Ten Dam pointed out to several other difficulties expecting riders in the opening week of the French Grand Tour.

“Everyone is very fresh and wants to get through those stages, what makes them dangerous. Even if they are tough, it’s still going to be hectic. An amount of crashes is the most annoying thing about the first week of the Tour,” Ten Dam concluded.