Robert Gesink reveals doping pressure as a young pro: “I thought I would have to join in”

Robert Gesink experienced a great deal during almost two decades as a professional cyclist. The Dutch climber spent his entire career with Rabobank and the team’s successors, living through several difficult chapters along the way. He entered the professional peloton during the last truly major doping scandals to shake cycling, and the rider from Varsseveld has now spoken candidly about that period.

Gesink entered Rabobank’s development system at a young age before turning professional in 2007. He was regarded as one of the Netherlands’ biggest talents and appeared to have a bright future ahead of him, but he joined the professional peloton during an extremely strange period. In his first few seasons, riders including Riccardo Riccò, Iban Mayo and Alexander Vinokourov returned positive doping tests. “When I entered the professional peloton, doping was commonplace,” Gesink told Bahamontes.

During his first professional season, his own team was also drawn into a major doping affair. Michael Rasmussen was removed from the Tour de France while wearing the yellow jersey. “I was already with the team, but I wasn’t part of the Tour squad when they took Rasmussen out of the race in 2007. Those were not the best years. There was a lot of mistrust, envy and uncertainty. Whenever somebody performed well, the others immediately thought: ‘He has found something new.’”

The atmosphere surrounding the sport was therefore extremely unusual. The level of professionalism familiar in modern cycling had not yet fully arrived. “Instead of training harder, people would take something as well,” Gesink explained. “As a young rider, I sometimes thought: ‘If I want to become that good, I’m going to have to join in.’ Fortunately, the people around me kept me on the right path.”

Rasmussen was not the only Rabobank rider to become involved in doping. Thomas Dekker and Michael Boogerd were also found to have used banned substances. As a result, Gesink—who retired in 2024 —knows that his career could have taken a very different direction during his first training camp. “Michael Boogerd could just as easily have taken me under his wing during that first camp, and I might have wholeheartedly followed him, because ultimately I wanted so badly to become as good as he was.”

Partly because of the major doping cases surrounding the peloton, Rabobank eventually decided to withdraw as the Dutch team’s title sponsor. The formation has since been transformed, achieving enormous success with sponsors including LottoNL, Jumbo, Visma and Lease a Bike. Gesink witnessed both the team and the wider sport change considerably. He believes the situation is now far better. “Cycling is much cleaner today, although there will, of course, always be people who cheat.”