Dennis van Winden chosen Best Young Rider

Robert Gesink of Rabobank and has been chosen “Cyclist of the Year” in the Netherlands. Dennis van Winden of the Rabobank Continental Team was named Best Young Rider.

Both squads ride Giant bicycles in competition. The Rabobank team rides the Giant TCR Advanced SL bicycle, and the Rabobank Continental Team rides the Giant TCR Advanced. Both teams ride the Giant Trinity Advanced SL in time trials.

The selections were made by the readers of Wielermagazine and the members of Club '48, an organization of former riders.

Gesink, 23, won the award for the second year in a row, and was the 13th Rabobank rider since 1997 to take the title. The other nominees were teammate Lars Boom and Johnny Hoogerland of the Vacansoleil team.

Considered to be the best Dutch climber in the peloton, Gesink suffered greatly from crashes over the season. He headed into the Tour de France with an eye to a high finishing position, but ended up dropping out within the first week. He crashed with about 80 kilometres to go on stage five from Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan. Despite a broken left wrist, he made his way to the finish, riding one-handed and virtually unable to brake.

Events looked to tragically repeat themselves in the 17th stage of the Vuelta a España, when Gesink went down in a mass crash with some 57 kilometres left to go on the way from Ciudad Real to Talavera de la Reina. He once again finished the stage despite a serious cut in his left knee.

Gesink had been hanging on to second place overall, but the injury hampered his climbing ability too severely, and he fell back, ending the Vuelta as sixth overall. He ended the year with his only victory of the season, winning the Giro dell'Emilia.

Rabobank scored another trophy as Dennis van Winden took home the trophy for Best Young Rider. The 21-year-old has already signed a contract with the ProTour team for the coming two seasons. Despite missing several weeks of the season due to illness, van Winden had five wins on the season, and won the Under-23 national time-trial title.

To read the full article at CyclingNEws.com please click here.  You can keep up to date with the latest Giant news by following us on Twitter, learn about new products on Facebook, and view the full brochure online at Issuu.