BAUKE MOLLEMA

The gulf between getting into the top 10 of a WorldTour race and winning one is rarely better demonstrated than in the career of Bauke Mollema. The Dutchman has been a perennial top-10 finisher in grand tours, WT stage races and classics. However, as he tackles his 12th season, his win tally in these events is stuck at one: the Clásica San Sebastián in 2016.

Mollema’s primarily seen as a grand tour GC rider – he’s a very strong climber and a stayer. He counts seven placings between fourth and 12th in the three-week races, his best a fourth in the 2011 Vuelta. Yet, since that high point, he’s mainly focused on the Tour, and finished no higher than sixth, and never within 10 minutes of the winner. In the shorter WorldTour stage races, he’s come close – 13 top 10s in total, and he’s been on the final podium in Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of the Basque Country and Tour de Suisse. He’s also been top 10 in Liège, Lombardy, Amstel, Flèche and both Canadian WorldTour races; but his best one-day results have come in San Sebastián, where his 2016 win is bolstered by three further podium finishes.

Mollema is 32. With Trek having signed Richie Porte, he’s arguably not his team’s best hope in grand tours. He’s done much better in the Giro and Vuelta than at the Tour in terms of time conceded and though the Giro looks incredibly competitive this year, it looks his best chance of a good GC result. He’s also on the Tour’s startlist, which makes him a viable plan B or valuable mountain support, but his career suggests that the podium is beyond him there. 2017 looks like his best blueprint – he rode a solid GC at the Giro, then the Tour in a successful hunt for a stage win.