Laurens ten Dam

Career

A native of the village of Zuidwolde in Groningen, ten Dam has been racing since 2000. A decent climber, ten Dam has been able to finish in the top ten in many important stage races including the 2007 Volta a Catalunya, the 2011 Tour Down Under, the 2011 Tour of California, and the 2011 Tour de Suisse. He also recorded two top ten finishes in Grand Tours: he finished 8th in the 2012 Vuelta a España and 9th in the 2014 Tour de France, and won the mountains classification in the 2009 Tour de Romandie.

Rabobank (2008–2015)

In 2012, ten Dam finished 8th in the Vuelta a España, his best grand tour finish to date.

In the 2013 Tour de France, ten Dam had an excellent first two weeks of the Tour, sitting 5th overall after the end of the second week with his teammate, Bauke Mollema 2nd overall. However, in the last week, ten Dam struggled to stay with the general classification contenders making him slip out of the top ten, finishing 13th overall.

At the 2014 Tour de France, ten Dam was selected to lead Belkin Pro Cycling with Mollema. Through the Vosges on stages 9 and 10 ten Dam was already almost 8 minutes behind race leader, Vincenzo Nibali giving his leadership to Mollema. Ten Dam's form slowly improved as the race went through the Alps finishing 8th on stages 13 and 14. With his good form moving through the Pyrenees, ten Dam managed to finish in the top 10 overall, finishing 9th.

Team Giant–Alpecin (2016–present)

In October 2015 it was announced that ten Dam would join Team Giant–Alpecin on a one-year contract for 2016, after spending eight years with Rabobank and its other guises, combining racing in the United States with competing in Europe and a focus on supporting Warren Barguil and Tom Dumoulin through his climbing ability and tactical knowledge.