Despite excellent supporting work by their teammates, Bauke Mollema and Laurens ten Dam were unable to defend their GC positions in Thursday's 18th stage of the Tour de France. On the L’Alpe d'Huez, Belkin Pro Cycling Team's stars dropped to the sixth and tenth place.
Laurens ten Dam said he was struggling straight from the beginning and went into “survival mode”:
"I was suffering today. During the first climb of the L’Alpe d'Huez, I was already at my limit. I was struggling. I was in survival mode and only thinking about damage control. I want to thank Lars Boom. After he was caught, he did some great work for me on the L’Alpe d'Huez. Maybe my crash in yesterday's time trial weakened me more than I realised at first. This is a small blow, but hopefully I can recover enough for tomorrow."
Bauke Mollema admitted that he most likely lost any chance of the podium today.
"It was a hard day,” Mollema said. “After yesterday's time trial, I didn't feel so good and today I had to fight right from the start. Luckily, Robert and Lars Petter stayed with me and helped me; otherwise, I would have lost much more time. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow. The podium is out of reach now, but I'm glad I've only lost two places."
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Bram NOLTEN 33 years | today |
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