RABOBANK’S GESINK IN THIRD PLACE OVERALL AFTER VUELTA STAGE 9

Takes 5th in Second Difficult Mountain Stage

Yet more great mountain riding by Rabobank’s Robert Gesink has seen the young Dutchman move up to third overall in the Vuelta a España.

After briefly losing contact with the other favorites during the arduous ascent of the Xorret de Cati on stage nine, Gesink powered back into contention in the final kilometres. The Dutchman then battled in a small group sprint at the finish, taking fifth, and simultaneously moving up to third place in the General Classification behind Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans.

The Rabobank team is more than delighted with Gesink’s strong racing for the second day running in the mountains of south-east Spain. “We were particularly impressed because yesterday was a really hard day,” said team sports director Adri Van Houwelingen. “Today, with more than 4,500 metres of climbing, and after losing touch with the other riders, Robert fought back. That effort was rewarded with third place in the overall G.C., and a tremendous boost to his motivation as well.”

The veteran Dutch sports director said that he doubted going even higher was possible for the 23-year-old Gesink, “…because Valverde and Cadel Evans are definitely on another level. Right now, if we could sign for third in Madrid on the final podium, we’d happily sign.”

“Having said that,” Van Houwelingen concluded, “Robert will give it 100 percent in the three crucial mountain stages of the races - starting Friday. He’s getting stronger day by day. So who knows what can happen?”

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