'Like old toothpaste' – Robert Gesink wants to squeeze every last bit out of his career

"I always said it's like old toothpaste," is how Robert Gesink describes the twilight of his career to GCN. “You're trying to push all the last little bits out of this old man.”

The Visma-Lease a Bike veteran is set to retire at the end of this season, by which time he’ll be 38, and he didn’t shy away from a bit of Dutch self-deprecation when looking ahead to his 19th year in the pro ranks.

As much as it’s a fun analogy, though, Gesink’s 2024 looks to be far from a retirement parade for a rider dried up like toothpaste. Despite being an older rider, the Dutchman is still riding to a top level, and will be tasked with looking after some of Visma-Lease a Bike’s big Grand Tour hopefuls at the Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España and the biggest one-week stage races.

Read more: Analysing the Visma-Lease a Bike Giro d’Italia team

So if he’s still performing, why choose now to retire? In fact, it was something Gesink already wanted to do in 2023, and this year is one final extension. Other than that, Gesink skirts around putting a finger on a singular reason — perhaps it’s just time.

“It's been 18 years and it's been really nice experiences, I've travelled the world and did what I loved to do,” he says. “Last season was still really good towards the end with a really high level in the Vuelta. This year I'm going to do the Giro and the Vuelta, and hope to do a similar level.”

In those 18 years, Gesink has only ever ridden for one professional team, Visma-Lease a Bike in all its guises, from Rabobank as a Continental team.

© Tim de Waele/Corbis/Velo Collection via Getty Images

Robert Gesink winning a stage at the Tour of California in 2008

On his day, Gesink was once one of the top climbers in the world, winning stage races like the Tour of California, and stages at the Vuelta and Tour de Suisse, before morphing into a mountain domestique in recent years. The lack of change over almost two decades is a rarity in professional cycling, but not a decision Gesink regrets.

“You can't change the past and in hindsight there are a lot of races I didn't win, but that's always the way it is,” he says. “I was always really happy with my family away from my own family, a group of people I've been working with for 18 years, so for me this was the best place to be, to be in the biggest team in the Netherlands as a Dutch guy is what I dreamt of as a kid.

“If you then can be in this team being the best team in the world, I guess, last season, that's again a completely different sensation from what this team was eight years ago, and I've played my role in getting to that level, amongst obviously a lot of other people who did a lot to get us that far.

"It's nice to see that that worked out and to be part of the winning combination, and I hope to be part of a lot of wins again this season.”

Read more: Homesickness, solo parenting and changed perspectives - fatherhood as a professional cyclist

After Jos van Emden retired at the end of 2023, Gesink has become the longest-serving rider at Visma-Lease a Bike, and has seen the team go through a dramatic evolution. What was once a mid-level WorldTour team scrapping for its existence is now a Grand Tour winning behemoth, sweeping up all three titles in 2023, and set to try and win more in 2024 with one of the biggest budgets in the peloton.

From the inside, though, the changes perhaps aren’t as big as one imagines.

“The atmosphere hasn't really changed, but it's obviously different when you're winning; there's more celebration, there are more moments of joy,” Gesink explains. “The same suffering, but with results and that makes for more smiles.

"On the other hand, there's always the next thing and there's always things you want to do better, so that mentality is exactly the same as it was. But if you can do that with results obviously it's easier to keep on going.”

From top climber to a mentor of young talent

As well as his physical strengths, one of the things that makes Gesink so valuable to Visma-Lease a Bike is his experience. He’s been around the block in cycling, raced almost every big GC race, and learnt almost everything there is to know about being a professional cyclist.

Though he may not be winning as an individual any more, Gesink has gladly taken to his new role within the team.

“It's always nice to pass along a bit of the things you've learned or the mistakes you've made, and try to help them [the younger riders] not make those mistakes,” he says.

“My whole career has been in different phases and the last few years it's all been about supporting and helping others out, and I'm happy doing that.”

© Alexander Hassenstein/Velo Collection via Getty Images

Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vinegaard points to Gesink at last year's Vuelta

This year, Gesink’s key prodigy will be Cian Uijtdebroeks, the young Belgian that Visma-Lease a Bike signed from Bora-Hansgrohe in a controversial and highly-publicised off-season move.

Read more: Compensation agreed between Cian Uijtdebroeks, Bora-Hansgrohe and Jumbo-Visma

Though Gesink hasn’t spent much time with the squad’s leaders yet — “basically just the camps and those moments,” he explained — there’s a clear positive connection between the 37-year-old and riders like Uijtdebroeks and Jonas Vingegaard.

“I'll be doing the Giro with Cian and I've been working with Jonas last year in the Vuelta. I think that worked out really well and I'm looking forward to doing it again.”

Two Grand Tours, working with the sport’s newest talent, and a farewell tour at the Vuelta — it’s not a season that sounds like a toothpaste-squeezing affair, but rather an apt closure to a long and successful career.

Naturally, there’s no overstatement from Gesink, but this is a man who’s looking forward to one last big year: “It's going to be fun,” he says with a satisfied smile.