Dutch talent rushes home to the Netherlands to be with father following mountain bike crash
Rabobank enjoyed a fantastic weekend with wins at both the Giro dell’Emilia and Paris-Tours. After a triumphant last two days, all focus shifted to the season closing Monument, the Giro di Lombardia, where back-to-back Giro dell’Emilia winner, Robert Gesink, was set to start as the hot favorite alongside Philippe Gilbert.
Unfortunately, Robert Gesink will now not take part in next Saturday’s Race of the Falling Leaves. Instead, the Dutch climber has flown home to be at his father’s side following a crash over the weekend in the mountain bike event, the Bart Brentjens Challenge. The 100 kilometer mountain bike race through Belgium and the Netherlands resulted in what one would assume to be a bad fall for Gesink’s father, though no reports have indicated his health status.
Not long after the GP Beghelli and the news of his father’s crash, Gesink was on a plane headed home to the Netherlands to see his father in the hospital in Maastricht.
Gesink pulled out of yesterday’s GP Beghelli after 150 kilometers, but at that point, all seemed to be ok. In fact, everything as perfect according to team director, Frans Maassen: “For Robert, there was not much to be gained at that point. He felt his legs on Saturday were good. They were very good. There is still a very important race to come next week.”
There will be many more opportunities for victory for the 24 year old prodigy. One can only hope that Gesink’s father will be ok.