In 2013, Bauke Mollema had his best season ever when he finished 6th in the Tour de France, won a stage in the Vuelta and was runner-up and stage winner in the Tour de Suisse. Next year the Belkin captain will an almost identical race schedule and will again focus on the Tour and the Ardennes classics.

Bauke Mollema has had a steady progression since turning professional with the team then known as Rabobank in 2008. That progress culminated this in 2013 when "Mollemania" hit the Netherlands in July as the Dutchman fought his way to a 6th place in the Tour de France.

That results was probably his best ever performance in a grand tour after making his debut in the 2010 Giro d'Italia. On that occasion, he finished 12th but had little success in his first two participations in the Tour in 2011 and 2012.

A 4th place in the Vuelta in between those performances proved that he was still a potential grand tour winner in the making and this year the confirmation came at the biggest scene. Unsurprisingly, Mollema is keen to again focus on the Tour where he will share the captaincy duties with Robert Gesink.

However, Mollema is much more than a grand tour rider. In addition to his strong climbing abilities, he is also a punchy rider with a fast sprint and he has had much success in the hilly classics. In 2012 he was in the top 10 in all three Ardennes classics and this year he only missed out in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The hilly races in Belgium and the Netherlands will again be the first target of his season.

In general, Mollema will follow a race schedule that is almost identical to the one he had in 2013. He will skip the Tour Mediteraneen and will postpone his debut to the Vuelta a Andalucia where he finished 3rd this year.

Skipping the one-day races Vuelta a Murcia and Clasica de Almeria, his next race will be Tirreno-Adriatico where he hopes to perform better than he did in 2013. He will stay in Italy for Milan-Sanremo whose new, more hilly course could make it a perfect fit for an Ardennes rider like him.

He will replace the Criterium International with the Vuelta al Pais Vasco as the final preparation for the Ardennes classics. He will then have a short mid-season break before resuming competition in the Tour of Norway where he finished 4th in 2013.

His final race before the Tour will be the Tour de Suisse. This year he won the second stage and finished 2nd in the event, setting himself up for his strong showing in France.

Mollema hasn't decided his schedule for the second part of the season.