Bauke Mollema will try Tour Down Under for the first time in his career: "I asked it myself. It seems nice to me and everyone is always positive about it"

Bauke Mollema celebrated his 37th birthday at the end of November. The experienced rider from Lidl-Trek once again shows that you are never old enough to try something new. For the first time in his long career, Mollema will start the 2024 season at the Tour Down Under, he tells WielerFlits.

The Dutchman himself took the initiative to propose the trip to the team management. "I asked it myself. It seems nice to me and everyone is always positive about it. That will be a first for me." Mollema will leave for Australia on January 8. The Down Under Classic is scheduled for Saturday, January 13, a one-hour criterium plus three laps of 1.35 kilometers.

The Tour Down Under itself will then start on Wednesday, January 17, and will last until Monday, January 22. On Thursday, January 25, Mollema and his team will also participate in the Surf Coast Classic (UCI 1.1) in and around Torquay. That race precedes the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, which, like the TDU, is a WorldTour race. Last year those races were won by Jay Vine and Marius Mayrhofer respectively.

After the Australian trip, Mollema will complete a training block at home in Monaco. "Normally, my next races after that are the two French classics Drôme Classic and Ardèche Classic at the end of February. This may be followed by Paris-Nice, but that is not yet certain. The Itzulia Basque Country and the Walloon classics are. Then, noramlly, I will not do the Giro d'Italia and I don't know yet what my program will look like after that."