The end of the road is in sight now for Robert Gesink, as the veteran Dutch allrounder and widely respected domestique heads into the final six days of his career at the Vuelta a España.
But while it’s purely coincidence that it will be Madrid where he turns his last pedal strokes in a road race, it somehow also feels appropriate that fate has decided it’s the Spanish capital where the curtain finally falls on his time in the peloton.
For one thing, the Vuelta a España is the only Grand Tour where Gesink has held the overall lead, back in 2021 when the race started on home soil with a team time trial in Utrecht. For another, the Vuelta was where Gesink took his first Grand Tour breakthrough results, finishing seventh overall in 2008 as a second-year-pro and sixth in 2009.
Further strengthening of his links with the Vuelta occurred when Gesink secured his one (to date) Grand Tour stage win in the race on the Aubisque in 2016, which is also, as it happens, his most recent victory. Last but not least, together with Sepp Kuss, Gesink has also formed part of Visma-Lease a Bike’s four winning teams in the Vuelta, from 2019 through to 2021 with Primož Roglič and then again in 2023 with the American in person.
In some ways, his different roles in the Vuelta reflected his development as a pro in general, Gesink told Cyclingnews earlier this week, starting with hopes to do a good overall classification, then moving on to stage wins and, finally, teamwork.
But as Gesink says, he’s pleased to be able to finish his career – as he will do in Madrid – in a Grand Tour no matter which one, given the atmosphere amongst a team at the end of a three-week race is always very special.
“It’s not because of the results but just because the sensation after a Grand Tour is always different,” Gesink told Cyclingnews.
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“You’ve had three weeks on the road with the same group of guys, you end up all going out for a little dinner with your families…so after 18 years, it’s good to finish off in a Grand Tour.
“But I’ve got good memories in a lot of races, and in general I’m super proud of a nice career that’s been through all the different areas road racing can have.”
After his GC-oriented start, “I then gave it a try one year to win stages [2016] and that even worked, then I focussed more on helping others and then in the Vuelta in 2022 I once again got close to winning a stage again.
“It’s true that the Vuelta has seen some of the best results of my career, so that means something now as well.”
With 11 Vueltas in his palmares – as well as 10 Tours and three Giros – Gesink has had plenty of opportunities to race on all of the country’s major climbs, and he will be looking forward, in particular, he says, to tackling the Lagos de Covadonga for one last time on Tuesday afternoon.
“I have good memories there, I came second in a stage there once from a break [2016 behind Nairo Quintana -Ed.], so definitely that’s a nice thing to do.
“But basically, I’m looking at it day by day like always because when you’re trying to oversee it all in one go, it gets quite big, I guess. It’s better to break it up into pieces.”
It’s not just at the end of this year’s Vuelta stages where the 38-year-old has had opportunities to head back down memory lane one more time. Back in 2022, the cat. 1 Alto del Piornal in western Spain featured as the summit finish where Gesink all but culminated a 137-kilometre breakaway with another victory, only to be pipped at the line by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). Two years later, on stage 4, the Vuelta crossed over the same summit, but right at the beginning of the day’s action, en route to Pico Villuercas.
“It was funny, Enric Mas (Movistar) came to me on the climb [on stage 4 of the Vuelta], and he apologized again for chasing me down back in 2022 on the same ascent and then not winning the sprint.
“It was funny because Mas and Evenepoel had already come up to me the day after that stage back in 2022, and they both said they didn’t want to close down my move, but the other one had done so, so they had to chase. So I still have to figure out which one is a true story!
“It was a pity, anyway, not to win that day. But I was very proud to show to myself I could still go for a victory.”
Back in 2024 and his last ever race, Gesink says he is “doing OK. It’s been a tough Vuelta in different ways – because of the heat and because of the racing, then Granada was tough because of the parcours and the weather. But I’m doing really well, and it’s fun to be part of this group.”
His chances of getting in a break one last time, he says, are all close to zero, given he’s mainly looking at a team role. As he puts it, the main focus of the team is on Van Aert and “getting him to do what he does best, and at the moment, that seems to be winning stages.”
The fact that this is the last time he is racing competitively as a professional makes for a real variety of feelings, he agrees. But it has also motivated him to be sure he goes out on as high a note as possible.
“I’ve always been careful on the road, but coming into here, it was nice to do the last altitude camp, the last preparation for the race.
“I certainly had a bit of extra morale because I know it’s the last time, say, that I’ll sacrifice having a bottle of wine at home, which you usually would have opened, but this time you decide to stay a little bit more professional. Stuff like that.
“In the race, I just wanted to be in a really high level, and fortunately, here in the Vuelta, it seems like it’s working out really well.”
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