Bauke Mollema goes into the Worlds road race as part of a strong Dutch team that is mostly made up of climbers. Despite the general assessment that the course is not as hard as expected, the Belkin leader expects the race to be a tough one that will suit his country.

One year ago Bauke Mollema was the best Dutchman in the Worlds road race when he finished 11th in Florence. This year he is in Ponferrada to do better as he lines up alongside 8 of his compatriots as part of a very strong Dutch team.

Unlike many other teams, the Dutchmen have lined up a roster that is almost purely made up of climbers. While classics specialists like Sebastian Langeveld and Niki Terpstra have been left at home, Mollema will be joined by Steven Kruijswijk, Wilco Kelderman, Wilco Kelderman, Tom Dumoulin, Tom-Jelte Slagter and Wout Poels who re all known for their skills on the ascents. The final two riders, Stef Clement and Dylan van Baarle, are also both strong uphill.

Yesterday most riders did their first recon of the course and many described it as less hard than expected. However, Mollema refuses that suggestion and expects the race to suit his team.

“I think it’s a hard course,” he told CyclingQuotes after doing his recon. “There are one long climb and one short climb and there is never any time to recover. I think it will be a hard race. Maybe they [other teams] expected it to be harder but I think it is a pretty hard parcours.”

“I think [the race will suit us]. It is maybe not as hard as last year but I think it is still a parcours that is good for us.”

Lots of sprinters have made it clear that they fancy their chances on Sunday. For the Dutch team to be in contention, the race needs to be made hard. Many expect the Dutchmen to join forces with the Spaniards and the Italians in making things tough.

Mollema confirmed that the team won’t wait for a sprint finish.

“It’s good for us if it is a hard race but we have to talk about the tactics during the next days,” Mollema said. “We have to ride aggressively. If you look at the fast sprinters, guys like Gerrans, Matthews and Degenkolb, we don’t have riders that can beat them in a sprint. We have to be in front with a small group. For us it has to be a hard race to drop those guys.”

Last year Mollema came into the race on the back of the Vuelta where he failed in his attempt to finish in the top 10 but took a surprise stage win. This year his preparation has been different as he has been resting after the Tour de France and the Eneco Tour before finalizing his preparations in the Canadian WorldTour races. Mollema finished 10th in both events and so proved that he has good legs.

“I feel good,” he said. “I had a good preparation for the Worlds. I didn’t race so much in the last few weeks but I have been training very hard. I feel in good shape.”

After the Worlds, Mollema will do Il Lombardia which will be his final race in Belkin colours. Next year he will be joining Trek where he has been promised a leadership role for the Tour de France.

This year he first peaked for the Ardennes classics before going on to finish 10th in the Tour. Even though his plans for next year have not yet been finalized, he doesn’t expect to change too much.

“We haven’t talked about the whole year,” he said before confirming that he will be the leader at the Tour. “The Tour de France will be the main goal normally. I think that my schedule won’t be very different from what it was this year but I have to talk to the team to define the specifics.”