Bauke Mollema has finished in the top 10 in all three Grand Tours, with stage wins in the 2021 Tour de France, 2017 Tour de France, and the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, in which he finished third overall.
45 Facts About Bauke Mollema
2.
Bauke Mollema won the Clasica de San Sebastian in 2016 and finished on the podium on three other occasions at the race.
3.
In 2007 Mollema won the prestigious stage race for upcoming talents Tour de l'Avenir and the Circuito Montanes.
4.
Bauke Mollema joined the Rabobank ProTeam in 2008, signing his first contract as a professional.
5.
Bauke Mollema's first notable result was a 6th position in the final classification of the 2008 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.
6.
Bauke Mollema made his ProTour debut in the Tour de Romandie, but did not finish the race due to a fall, which resulted in a fractured collarbone.
7.
Bauke Mollema fully returned in top shape in the Deutschland Tour, in which he started as Rabobank's team leader, eventually finishing 7th in the overall general classification.
8.
Bauke Mollema made his Grand Tour debut in the Giro d'Italia in which he made a good impression but fell short of a top 10 classification and winning the young rider competition, partially due to missing out on a break-away of 50 riders in which a lot of direct opponents gained a 12 minutes lead.
9.
Bauke Mollema continued to ride strong later in the season with a mountain stage win in the Tour de Pologne and a third place overall after winner Dan Martin and runner-up Grega Bole.
10.
Bauke Mollema eventually did not show his good form in the Ardennes classics and rode disappointing results.
11.
Bauke Mollema returned to action in his third Grand Tour, the Vuelta a Espana.
12.
Bauke Mollema did not lose any crucial time in the first week and was awarded the red leader's jersey after his second place in stage 9.
13.
Bauke Mollema rode well after the time trial and was heading for a podium position, but he fell to fourth place overall due to the performance of Juan Jose Cobo on the Alto de l'Angliru.
14.
Bauke Mollema eventually came onto the podium in Madrid as winner of the points classification.
15.
On 18 July 2019, Bauke Mollema was officially elevated to third overall in the Vuelta after Cobo was disqualified for being found guilty of abnormalities related to performance-enhancing drugs on his biological passport, earning Bauke Mollema his first ever podium finish in a Grand Tour.
16.
Bauke Mollema had no success in the Grand Tours, as he abandoned the Tour de France, and finished 28th overall at the Vuelta a Espana.
17.
Bauke Mollema had other successes during the year, as he took his first overall podium in a World Tour stage race, when he finished 3rd in the Tour of the Basque Country.
18.
Bauke Mollema started in his first Clasica de San Sebastian finishing 5th, a race that he later had great success in.
19.
Bauke Mollema finished off the season with a 7th place at a rainy Giro di Lombardia.
20.
In 2013, Bauke Mollema carried some good form finishing 2nd in the Vuelta a Murcia, 3rd in the Vuelta a Andalucia, and 4th in the Criterium International.
21.
Bauke Mollema finished eighth on the next stage and rose to third overall after Richie Porte lost more than 18 minutes.
22.
Bauke Mollema won Stage 17 of the race by attacking from the peloton 500 metres from the line, and holding off the chasing pack led home by Edvald Boasson Hagen.
23.
At the Tour de France, Bauke Mollema sat seventh overall heading into the penultimate stage, an individual time trial 54 kilometres in length.
24.
Bauke Mollema quickly redeemed himself one week later, where he took his first podium at Clasica de San Sebastian, when he finished 2nd just behind Alejandro Valverde.
25.
In September 2015, Bauke Mollema won the Tour of Alberta stage race in Canada.
26.
On Stage 12 of the Tour de France, Bauke Mollema bridged across to an attack by race leader Chris Froome and Richie Porte on Mont Ventoux, and was the only general classification contender able to do so.
27.
Bauke Mollema was able to remount his bike and continued riding, while Porte was delayed and passed by the other general classification contenders and Froome ditched his bike and continued on foot until receiving a replacement bike from his team car.
28.
Bauke Mollema finished the stage 1 minute and 40 seconds ahead of Froome, and the initial standings placed Bauke Mollema in second overall behind new leader Adam Yates.
29.
The revised standings placed Nairo Quintana ahead of Bauke Mollema, who was now fourth overall.
30.
On Stage 13, Bauke Mollema produced what he described as "the best time trial of my life" to place sixth on the hilly route over 37.5 kilometres.
31.
Bauke Mollema ultimately fell to eleventh overall in the final general classification.
32.
Bauke Mollema finished 7th overall at the Giro d'Italia, his best result at the race.
33.
Bauke Mollema got his own chance on stage 15 where he went into the breakaway.
34.
Bauke Mollema attacked his breakaway companions, just after the last major climb of the day, and managed to keep them behind all the way to the finish line, winning his first Tour de France stage win by 19 seconds, ahead of Diego Ulissi.
35.
At the Tour de France, Bauke Mollema was team leader and it looked promising after a great first week where he was one of the best general classification contenders.
36.
However already on the second mountain stage, Bauke Mollema cracked and switched his focus to go for stage wins.
37.
Bauke Mollema was very close to winning a stage, but had to settle with a 3rd and 4th place as his best stage results.
38.
Bauke Mollema was the only one to match the pace of Julian Alaphilippe in the final, but lost the sprint for victory to Alaphilippe.
39.
Bauke Mollema chose to start the Vuelta a Espana, his second Grand Tour of the season.
40.
Bauke Mollema showed he had form already on the fifth stage where he finished 2nd just behind Simon Clarke.
41.
Later on the climb it looked like King was having difficulties and Bauke Mollema slowly chased him down.
42.
In 2019 Bauke Mollema finished the 2019 Clasica de San Sebastian in 5th place, 6th place in La Fleche Wallonne and 10th in the 2019 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.
43.
Bauke Mollema entered the 2020 Tour, but for only the 2nd time in ten participations he did not finish the race.
44.
Bauke Mollema finished 8th in the 2021 Liege-Bastogne-Liege and rode very strongly in the 2021 Tour de France.
45.
On stage 11 which included a double ascent of Mont Ventoux Bauke Mollema was in contention for the stage win, but ended up finishing 3rd, crossing the line with teammate Kenny Elissonde as Wout Van Aert went on to win the stage.