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Menchov podium a huge boost for Rabobank
Dutch outfit Rabobank finished the Tour de France on a high on Sunday, and with hope they may now have a home-grown future challenger for the race's coveted yellow jersey.
After an underwhelming start to the race Russian Denis Menchov secured the third and last place on the Champs Elysees podium thanks to a late charge on the penultimate stage time trial on Saturday.
And with Robert Gesink's sixth place finish on only his second participation, the Dutch team believe the future is bright.
Rabobank sports director Erik Breukink hinted that he fully expected Menchov, who was fourth overall and 21sec behind Euskaltel's Samuel Sanchez before the race against the clock, to dislodge the Olympic road race champion.
"Denis is really happy, he's on the podium and he got the best time of all the (yellow jersey) favourites," said Breukink.
"The wind was changing and had become really strong but Denis likes these kinds of tough conditions."
Menchov's 11th place finish in the time trial on Saturday, 3min 51sec behind stage winner Fabian Cancellara, was enough to leave him in third 1:39 ahead of Sanchez prior to Sunday's largely celebratory final stage.
Despite taking 1:52 off race winner Alberto Contador in the final time trial, leaving him with regrets of not trying to stick closer to the Spaniard in the mountains, Menchov was satisfied with his race.
"I didn't want to get obsessed by the yellow jersey, I was afraid of being disappointed again," said the Russian.
"So this (third place) is more than welcome to me and the team."
Breukink believes the Russian, who was given third place on the race in 2008 after the disqualification of Bernhard Kohl for doping, perhaps benefited from an unplanned change of pre-Tour strategy after suffering a health problem.
"He had to change his preparation for the Tour because of breathing problems," said Brekink.
"Because of that he did an altitude training camp after the Dauphine Criterium (June 6-13) instead of doing it as planned before the race.
"Maybe that went in his favour. At the end of the day he's on the podium, and with (Robert) Gesink in sixth we're very happy."
A winner of the Giro d'Italia in 2009, Menchov, 32, may yet have a few years of challenging for the yellow jersey although Dutchman Gesink showed promise on only his second participation.
Gesink, who has shown plenty of promise on the climbs of many
top races in recent years, now must focus on improving his time
trial. The skinny 24-year-old finished 109th on Saturday at 8:33
behind Cancellara.
