Mollema has previously won a stage at the Tour in 2017
Cycling aficionados in Groningen and Frisian are focussing on Bauke Mollema during the Tour de France, which is about to enter its pivotal stage. Mollema was born in and grew up in the province of Groningen, trained in Friesland and now officially lives in Monaco. Going into the mountain stage, Mollema is in position 13 in the rankings.
The Tour is now getting mountainous: over the next six stages, one mountain after another looms ahead, with four uphill finishes. Mollema sits thirteenth, 2.31 minutes from leader Primoz Roglic, reports the GIC.
The most difficult stage is today: where riders will have to conquer no less than 4400 vertical meters on their way to Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol in the Massif Central. Seven climbs are on the route, with a very tough end stage. The penultimate col has an average gradient of nine percent and the last two kilometers to Puy Marie have a gradient of above eleven percent.
The Groninger finished well on Thursday as one of the first in the peloton. The steeper it gets, the better Mollema generally does. Mollema said earlier this week that he sometimes has trouble with being too hot during the Tour, as it is usually held in July. The weather in the region of todays stage will be sunny and around 25 degrees centigrade.
Image: Mollema at the 2014 Tour de France. By Filip Bossuyt on Flickr. License here.
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