RABOBANK BLOGS ABOUT THE VUELTA IN HOLLAND
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;setCaption(document.image_thumb); "Rabobank’s Oscar Freire battles at the Stage 3 finish of the Vuelta a Espana. Photo by Cor Vos.")
;setCaption(document.image_extra_one_thumb); "Lars Boom of Rabobank leads the three-man breakaway through much of Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana. Photo by Cor Vos.")
;setCaption(document.image_extra_two_thumb); "Rabobank’s Robert Gesink was so impressed with the crowds in Assen at the Vuelta prologue TT that he was worried he’d be too nervous to ride. Fortunately, he wasn’t! Photo by Cor Vos.")
Oscar Freire takes third in Stage 3
The opening stages of the Vuelta a Espana, taking place in the Netherlands, have proved to be wildly successful with thousands of fans turning out to witness the third Grand Tour of the racing season. It’s undoubtedly a preview of an even bigger turnout expected in 2010 when stages of both the Giro d’Italia AND the Tour de France take place here.
Rabobank’s Oscar Freire took third in the battle at the Stage 3 finish line. The Spaniard was edged out of the victory by New Zealander Greg Henderson of Columbia-HTC. Riding the Giant TCR Advanced SL put Oscar near the front of the sprint, with the bike’s massive Megadrive downtube and ultra-stiff Powercore bottom-bracket area catapulting him to the estimated 60 kilometer-per-hour speed at the finish. His team mate, Lars Boom, spent most of the day as part of a three-man breakaway over the 189km from Zutphen to Venlo. By winning valuable sprint bonus points, Lars is placed 7th overall, just 16 seconds behind GC leader Fabian Cancellara.
The Dutch-based Rabobank riders and staff are thrilled with the way the race has been received on home turf. Here are some thoughts from members of the Rabo team:
Robert Gesink (Rabobank rider): It’s just been amazing having the Vuelta here. My favorite moment so far? Going into that motorbike circuit (during the TT prologue) and seeing the tens of thousands of people there—it gave me gooseflesh, even when a team-mate of mine, Pieter Weening, was starting the prologue, not me! I was actually quite nervous, and I wondered for a moment if I’d be able to ride my bike. Fortunately, I was! It all makes me wonder what the start of the Tour de France in Rotterdam will be like. To judge by what’s happened here, it’s going to be enormous!
Erik Dekker (Rabobank sports director): Well, this has silenced all the criticism there was about having the Tour of Spain start here in the Netherlands. It has been quite an event here in Assen, and I wonder if they will be so happy in a big city like Amsterdam when they have the start of the Tour of Italy! Here it’s been something very special; starting that race in the motorbike circuit was like starting it in a football stadium. There was the same intense atmosphere, and the same feeling of support and applause.
Adri Van Houwelingen (Rabobank sports director): I’ve seen more fans here in three days than I normally see in half of a Tour of Spain!