Team Belkin's Robert Gesink finished off the Tour Down Under on Sunday in sixth overall. Gesink's place in the top 10 of the GC was never in jeopardy in the final 95km stage, a criterium in Adelaide. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won the bunch sprint while Gesink was 22nd.
Gesink looked back with satisfaction on the team's time in Australia after the last stage. "It's been a very good race," said the Dutchman, whose only disappointment was the collarbone fracture of David Tanner. "All my teammates worked hard and thanks to them, I was able to compete at the front."
Ready for the rest of the season following the Tour Down Under, he said, "This was a good start of the season. Of course, we'd rather have won something as a team, but on the other hand, we were among the best in the WorldTour this week. I feel that I'm in a good shape."
Gesink is pleased with the professional way the team approached the first race of the season. "We took the race very seriously, and we did everything we could to be good here. We reached a high level. Maybe next year we could travel to Australia a little bit earlier?"
"We were well acclimatized, don't get me wrong, but if we could have done a good training block here, maybe we would have been slightly better. It could be an idea for the future. We always look for ways to innovate."
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