Robert Gesink smashes Strava KoM on Tour de France's first mountain

LottoNL-Jumbo's Robert Gesink knocks eight minutes off the previous best time up the Col du Soudet - the Tour de France's first mountain climb

Robert Gesink on stage ten of the 2015 Tour de France (Watson)
(Image credit: Watson)

Spare a thought for poor Mathieu Dumont, the amateur French rider who held the Strava KoM up the Col du Soudet until the Tour de France came to town on Tuesday.

The fella had smashed his way to the top 15.3km hill in just over 47 minutes, faster than a host of professionals including Romain Bardet, Steven Kruijswijk and Simon Yates.

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But come 5:15pm on Tuesday he'd been shunted down to tenth place as LottoNL-Jumbo's Robert Gesink knocked nearly eight minutes off the best time.

The Dutchman powered away from the bunch on the climb, seeking stage victory. Although the win wasn't to be, he clung on for fourth in an impressive show of climbing.

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While he couldn't win the stage he had the minor consolation of topping the Strava leaderboard, beating another fantastic performance from Adam Yates by 45 seconds.

One would imagine that if Chris Froome, Richie Porte or Nairo Quintana were on Strava they would have probably eclipsed Gesink's time, but let's give the Dutchman his moment in the sun.

 Watch highlights from stage 10 of the Tour de France

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Stuart Clarke is a News Associates trained journalist who has worked for the likes of the British Olympic Associate, British Rowing and the England and Wales Cricket Board, and of course Cycling Weekly. His work at Cycling Weekly has focused upon professional racing, following the World Tour races and its characters.