Laurens ten Dam

Laurens ten Dam (born 13 November 1980) is a Dutch former road racing cyclist and current gravel racer. He competed professionally in road cycling between 2003 and 2019 for the and squads.
Career
A native of the village of Zuidwolde in Groningen, Ten Dam started racing in 2000. Being a decent climber, Ten Dam was able to finish in the top ten in many important stage races including the 2007 Volta a Catalunya, the 2011 Tour Down Under, the 2011 Tour of California, and the 2011 Tour de Suisse. He also recorded two top ten finishes in Grand Tours: he finished 8th in the 2012 Vuelta a España and 9th in the 2014 Tour de France, and won the mountains classification in the 2009 Tour de Romandie.
Rabobank (2008–2015)
In 2012, Ten Dam finished 8th in the Vuelta a España, his best grand tour finish.
In the 2013 Tour de France, Ten Dam had an excellent first two weeks of the Tour, sitting 5th overall after the end of the second week with his teammate, Bauke Mollema 2nd overall. However, in the last week, Ten Dam struggled to stay with the general classification contenders making him slip out of the top ten, finishing 13th overall.
At the 2014 Tour de France, Ten Dam was selected to lead with Mollema. Through the Vosges on stages 9 and 10 Ten Dam was already almost 8 minutes behind race leader, Vincenzo Nibali giving his leadership to Mollema. Ten Dam's form slowly improved as the race went through the Alps finishing 8th on stages 13 and 14. With his good form moving through the Pyrenees, Ten Dam managed to finish in the top 10 overall, finishing 9th.
Team Giant–Alpecin (2016–2018)
In October 2015 it was announced that Ten Dam would join on a one-year contract for 2016, after spending eight years with and its other guises, combining racing in the United States with competing in Europe and a focus on supporting Warren Barguil and Tom Dumoulin through his climbing ability and tactical knowledge.
Retirement (2019-)
Since his retirement, Ten Dam is able to spend more time with his family and life has become less regimented. However, he still had time for an interview with CyclingTips.com.
Ten Dam continues to give interviews and hold podcasts. One of his most interesting podcasts is about cycling and mental health together with Jack Thompson. Recently, Ten Dam started another podcast called the "Beter Worden Podcast" (Get Better) in which several aspects of improving on the bike are highlighted and discussed with a human movement scientist.
In May 2021, ten Dam won Gravel Locos in Hico, Texas.
Achievements
1999
3rd Overall Flèche du Sud
2003
1st La Marmotte
2004
9th Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem
2005
3rd Overall Ster Elektrotoer
3rd Omloop der Kempen
4th Overall Tour of Belgium
4th Overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
8th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
8th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
9th Hel van het Mergelland
2006
1st Mountains classification Ster Elektrotoer
5th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
7th Route Adélie
7th Polynormande
9th Overall Course de la Solidarité Olympique
1st Stage 2a (ITT)
2007
5th Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
7th Overall Deutschland Tour
9th Overall Volta a Catalunya
2008
5th Overall Critérium International
1st Stage 1
10th Overall Tour de Suisse
2009
1st Mountains classification Tour de Romandie
8th Overall Vuelta a Murcia
2010
10th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
2011
5th Overall Tour Down Under
6th Overall Tour of California
8th Overall Tour de Suisse
10th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León
2012
1st Ridderronde Maastricht
8th Overall Vuelta a España
9th Brabantse Pijl
2013
3rd Overall Tour du Haut Var
8th Overall Tour of Norway
2014
8th Overall Tour of California
9th Overall Tour de France
2016
10th Overall Tour of California
2021
1st Gravel Locos 150
2nd Garmin Unbound Gravel 200
General classification results timeline
Classics results timeline
Major championship results timeline
See also
List of Dutch Olympic cyclists
References
External links
Team Sunweb profile
1980 births
Living people
Dutch male cyclists
Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic cyclists for the Netherlands
People from Bedum
UCI Road World Championships cyclists for the Netherlands
Cyclists from Groningen (province)