Even though rumors about Bauke Mollema’s departure from Belkin Procycling in order to join Trek Factory Racing leaked out in the same time when Dutch team’s sponsor announced that it was pulling of the sport, the 27-year old claims that he didn’t abandon a sinking ship as the decision has been made irrespectively.

Riding his second consecutive Tour de France as Belkin leader, Mollema didn’t share any insights on the grounds of his decision to leave a Dutch squad in order to join Trek Factory Racing for 2015 season, but claimed that decision has been made before the end of June.

"In May and June, I myself made the decision to leave," Mollema said, according to Dutch website wielerflits.nl. "That was before the news came out that Belkin would stop at the end of this year. Of course, it seemed like I was abandoning the ship before it sank, but I had already made the choice to leave."

The 27-year old Dutchman admitted that his decision coincided with Belkin title sponsor departure in a very unfortunate way, and it certainly didn’t help the atmosphere within a squad during their Tour de France campaign.

"A lot of guys were in limbo about their future and had no security," Mollema said. "I can imagine that me signing somewhere else might not have been well received, but as a team we put our best foot forward and dealt with it professionally."

Mollema finished the French grand tour tenth after a truly disastrous show off in the final time trial, what was a case for his team-mate Laurens Ten Dam as well. However, the 27-year old Dutchman was reluctant to admit that rumored problems with equipment were the main reason of their failure.

"I think the time trial bike is a very fast bike and it tested really well in the wind tunnel," Mollema said. "But we just didn't have enough time to train on the new bike. The fact that I didn’t have a time trial bike to train on at home all year wasn't in my favour."

Mollema is expected to line-up at the Eneco Tour in a Belkin rider, but he admits to have all his sights on the upcoming season already.

"The Tour is by far the most important race and I want to continue to ride for the classification," he said.