Bauke Mollema will ride his first race for Trek in Spain. The Dutch rider will make his debut at the Vuelta a Murcia and the Clasica Almeria before he lines up at the Vuelta a Murcia.

Bauke Mollema has always liked Spain, especially the weather. For years, he has had an apartment in Campello and has spent long periods there with his familu. And he also likes to start his season under the Iberian sun. The Dutchman confirms to Biciciclismo that the Vuelta a Murcia (February 14), Clasica Almeria (February 15) and Vuelta a Andalucía (February 18-22) will be his first three races in 2015. For the fourth year, he will be at the start of the Andalusian race which kicks off in Huelva. In 2014, he was sixth in the Spanish event while he was third in 2013. That year he was also second in Murcia.

He has still not decided whether he will do Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico before he focuses on the preparation for his first big goal, the Ardennes classics of Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The Tour de France will be the second goal for Mollema in his first year with Trek after eight seasons in the structure of Rabobank-Belkin. He is fully focused on the Ardennes and aims to reach at least the podium after having achieved several top ten results and been very close in recent years: In 2012 he was 6th Liege, 7th in Fleche and 10th in Amstel, in 2013 he was 9th in Fleche and 10th in Amstel and in 2014 he was 4th in Fleche, 7th in Amstel and 15th in Liege.

His other major challenge is the Tour de France after his sixth place in 2013 and and 10th place in 2014. He was fourth in the 2011 Vuelta a Espana and 12th the 2010 Giro d'Italia.