Bauke Mollema’s honors list is one to lick the fingers off, especially for a rider who is not blessed with the greatest cycling talent. The veteran (36) knows all too well that he is not a top favorite in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. “But I do feel like pulling something out of the top hat.”
The almost always cheerful Bauke Mollema likes an adventure. He also booked all his major victories, such as two Tour stages, a win in the cycling monument Tour of Lombardy and Clasica San Sebastian. This year, the Groninger wanted to see what his chances were on the cobblestones in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (73rd) and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (90th).
“You notice that it is very difficult without knowledge of the course. If it had gone really well it might have been worth repeating, but now I don’t know. The Tour of Flanders? If they need me, I definitely want to drive it one day. But it’s not that I can just claim my spot for that race. We have specialists like Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven, and those men also deserve a team around them with riders who are used to that.”
Targeted choices
Mollema indicates that he is not getting any younger, which means he makes more targeted choices. For example, he left the rankings in major rounds four years ago for what it is. “That is really no longer possible,” says the driver, who lives in Monaco, who rides the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France after the hilly classics. “I will ride several rides in the service of Giulio Ciccone, who wants to ride a classification. But I’m not just a pure servant now, mind you. In two or three days I have the opportunity to go for a stage win.”
‘I don’t know where I stand’
In the Amstel Gold Race, Mollema rode in the top 10 three times. That is also the goal this weekend, in the 57th edition of the Dutch classic. “Although I don’t really know where I stand. I was a bit sick at the end of the Tour of the Basque Country, but after that I was able to run a good training block.”
The born northerner knows that it will be difficult to beat favorites such as Tadej Pogacar and Thomas Pidcock. “If Pogacar goes full at the bottom of the Keutenberg, I’m no longer in his wheel at the top, haha. I know that, and that is why you have to make sure that you use a different tactic.”
He talks respectfully about Pogacar, as well as about Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel. Mollema saw the Belgian and the Dutchman shine in Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, while the Slovenian was in a class of his own in Flanders’ Finest a week earlier. They are riders who are overflowing with talent and for whom it all seems to come naturally.
“Those men also have to train very hard, but they are of a different caliber,” says Mollema. ,,I have never been the most talented rider and always rely on hard work and willpower. That has brought me a long way and I am proud of that. In all the races I won, I was often not even the strongest, but I had to keep going. Sometimes following my gums, getting released three times and fighting me back every time. That has always been my style. When you see those men raging… They drive so terribly fast and they also seem to go off easily.”
Not done yet
Mollema enjoys – despite all the youthful violence – his ‘old age’ and is not ready yet. His contract with Trek-Segafredo runs until 2026. “I still really like it. In the coming years I hope to take a nice victory here and there. Sunday? Who knows. It would be nice if I have the legs to try something and the others think: let him drive.”
For example, Mollema was hardly ever the top favorite in the past, but he proved many times that you should never underestimate this diligent worker.