Now aged 37, Bauke Mollema is well into the autumn of his time within the peloton as the 2024 season gets underway. Recalling some of his memories over the year, the Dutchman has named the 2016 Tour de France as his lowest point.
With 18 stages down and just three to go, Mollema was set in second overall at the 2016 edition of the battle for the Maillot Jaune, three and a half minutes down on Chris Froome. Sadly for Mollema however, a position of such hope and positivity would turn sour over the final few stages.
"I don't know if I would have managed to get to the final podium, but I was well on my way," recalls Mollema in conversation with De Telegraaf. "I fell on the nineteenth stage, so my chance was lost. That was really a disappointment. Yes, in retrospect it was the low point of my career. For a few years I thought: shit, this was my chance for the Tour podium."
"It's not that it made me depressed or that I needed to talk to anyone about it. It happened and I can easily shake off such a setback," continues Mollema, who eventually finished in 11th overall, over thirteen minutes down on race-winner Froome. "A week and a half later I won the classic Clasica San Sebastian."
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