Robert Gesink

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Robert Gesink

---

image_caption =
fullname = Robert Gesink
nickname = The Condor of Varsseveld
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1986|5|31
country = NED
height = height|m=1.87
weight = convert|68|kg|lb|abbr=on|lk=on
currentteam = Rabobank
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype = Climbing specialist
amateurteams = Löwik Meubelen
Rabobank Continental
amateuryears = 2005
2006
proyears = 2007–
proteams = Rabobank
majorwins = Tour of Belgium, 1 stage
Tour of California, 1 stage
updated = August 15, 2007

Robert Gesink (born May 31, 1986 in Varsseveld) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Rabobank. With his natural climbing capabilities Gesink is being touted as one of the biggest prospects of the sport.

Career

Early years

At the Junior World Championships of 2004 UCI Road World Championships in Verona, Gesink finished eighth in the individual time trial and sixth in the road race. He joined the Rabobank Continental team in 2006. He finished third overall in Volta ao Algarve and won the overall classification and the third stage of Settimana Ciclista Lombarda. He later won a stage and the overall classification of the Circuito Montañés and finished second in the prestigious Tour de l'Avenir. Gesink initially signed a two year deal with Rabobank Continental but team manager Theo de Rooij decided to move him to the Rabobank UCI ProTeam for the 2007 season. [cite web
url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/oct06/oct11news2
title=Rabobank adds Moerenhout and Gesink
date=October 6, 2006
author=
publisher=cyclingnews.com
accessdate=2008-06-05]

2007

In his first year as professional cyclist he immediately impressed by winning the young riders jersey in the Tour of California. He went on to impress by finishing 9th in his first UCI Pro Tour race ever, in La Flèche Wallonne, where it was calculated Gesink had done the fastest climb of the Mur de Huy. After riding another top 15 in the Tour de Romandie won by his teammate Thomas Dekker, he finally won his first race as professional at the queen stage in the Tour of Belgium riding away from everyone on Côte de La Redoute. After again impressing in the Clásica de San Sebastián, riding just outside the top ten, he finished 5th in the Deutschland Tour and second in the Tour de Pologne. He subsequently got selected for the UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart, where he did a lot of work in the early breakaway and eventually quit that race in the last lap. But in the Giro di Lombardia he showed good form again by finishing as 15th.

2008

In his 2nd year as professional, in 2008, he showed progression by winning the hardest stage in the Tour of California, Gesink rode away on the final climb, with only Levi Leipheimer holding his wheel. They stayed ahead on the final 35 kilometers of downhill and flat and Leipheimer didn't contest Gesink in the sprint. Gesink won the young riders jersey again and finished 9th in the general classification. In the Paris-Nice he finished second in the stage up to Mont Serein, five kilometers before the top of Mont Ventoux, where he was outsprinted by Cadel Evans. He then lost the jersey in the penultimate stage to Cannes, when he got isolated on the Col de Tanneron which, together with Gesink's overly careful descent, allowed Davide Rebellin to take the leader's jersey. He finished fourth in the overall classification, 51 seconds behind Rebellin, which won Gesink the youth classification. [cite web
url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/News_stage_six_gesink_sinks_article_198287.html
title=PARIS-NICE STAGE 6: GESINK SINKS
date=March 15, 2008
author=Edward Pickering
publisher=cyclingweekly.co.uk
accessdate=2008-06-05] He also finished twelfth in Vuelta al País Vasco and completed a successful Ardennes classics by finishing fourth in La Flèche Wallonne. In september, he then finished seventh in his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España.

Palmarès

;2004:NED U19 Time Trial Championship;2006:3rd Overall Volta ao Algarve::2nd, Stage 5:1st Overall Circuito Montañés::1st, Stage 6:1st Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda::1st, Stage 3:2nd Overall, Tour de l'Avenir;2007:20th Overall, Tour of California::1st, Young Rider Classification:9th, La Flèche Wallonne:1st, Stage 4, Tour of Belgium:5th Overall, Deutschland Tour::1st, Young Rider Classification:2nd Overall, Tour de Pologne::2nd, Stage 7;2008:9th Overall, Tour of California::1st, Stage 3::1st, Young Rider Classification:4th Overall, Paris-Nice::2nd, Stage 4::1st, Young Rider Classification:4th, La Flèche Wallonne:4th Overall, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré:2nd, Stage 4, Österreich Rundfahrt:10th, Olympic Road Race:7th Overall, Vuelta a España

References

External links

* [http://fansrobertgesink.hyves.nl/ Fanhyve]
* [http://www.robertgesink.nl/ Personal website]
* [http://www.rabobank.nl/particulieren/sponsoring/wielrennen/proteam/riders_in_english/robert_gesink Profile at Rabobank official website]
*trapfriis|netherlands.Gesink.htm
*Cyclingwebsite|15061

Persondata
NAME=Gesink, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH=1986-05-31
PLACE OF BIRTH=Varsseveld, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=