It takes a lot to please Dutchmen, and thus high expectations surround the only Dutch team in the ProTour. Last season they didn’t meet those expectations that often, starting off with disappointment during the spring classics. Fortunately, an outstanding Tour de France with four stage victories and the polka dot jersey in Paris ended all criticism about their performance, even though team leader Menchov couldn’t keep up with the competition for the entire three weeks and slowly dropped in the yellow jersey ranking as the Tour progressed.


Rabobank saved their season thanks to that great T...