Robert Gesink passed a trouble-free day in the Tour de France on Friday. The leader of Team LottoNL-Jumbo ended the seventh stage in Fougères 27th. Etixx-QuickStep’s Mark Cavendish won the stage.

Gesink had a minor crash in neutralisation, however.

“Luckily the pace wasn’t too high and a tumble in the neutral zone doesn’t really count as a real crash,” Gesink laughed afterwards. “I rolled through the day well, like I’ve done this whole week.”
 

Gesink Gesink moved up to 13th overall on Friday because yellow jersey Tony Martin wasn’t able to start the stage. Immediately after the stage, he looked ahead to his next challenge: the Mûr de Bretagne.

“Tomorrow will be spectacular,” Gesink said. “On the one hand it’s an important arrival, on the other hand, it doesn’t mean too much, as it’s not a real climb. It’s still an important moment where you want to score, though.”
 

Gesink tackled the Mûr de Bretagne once before. In 2011, when the fourth stage of the Tour finished on the steep climb, the Dutchman placed 16th at eight seconds behind winner Cadel Evans.

“I’m going to the watch the final kilometres of the stage tonight. The goal is simple: I need to go up as fast as possible and hope that others need more time than me.”
 

Nico Verhoeven said Friday’s relatively easy stage was good for Laurens ten Dam and Wilco Kelderman’s recovery.

“The calm racing and the weather were in their favour,” the sports director said.

“They’re going in the right direction. They are slowly crawling back to their former level. Lau and Wilco have proven themselves in grand tours, if they are fully fit, they can get in the mix in every stage with a climb. Especially, as they are deep down in the overall.”
 

Jos van Emden started his first Tour last Saturday with an excellent fifth place. The 30-year-old Dutchman looked back on the first week with a good feeling.

“I secretly think back about that TT in Utrecht every day,” the former Dutch time trial champion said. “The fatigue starts to come into play, but I didn’t need bandages. Actually, it’s going pretty well. Tomorrow is a normal working day for me, but on Sunday, the team time trial awaits. I’m looking forward to it. Time trials suit me, of course, but after a week of racing it’s always a little different.”