Robert Gesink is currently in the battle for a top 10. Before the final five stages of which four are held in the Alpine heartland, with three summit finishes, the LottoNL-Jumbo leader is 7th, 6:23 behind yellow jersey Christopher Froome (Team Sky). If he can stay sharp through the Alps, Robert Gesink will have a chance at adding a second Tour de France top 10 to his palmares.

“Robert’s a big fighter,” team LottoNL-Jumbo General Manager Richard Plugge told VeloNews. “No one is mentally as tough as he is in this peloton. Of course you have your ups and downs, but he’s always fighting back and fighting, that’s Robert. His will to bounce back every time, that’s something that many other people can’t do. Other riders would have thrown in the towel if they had so much bad luck. He just fights and keeps fighting.”

Guessing told Velonews he wants to win a stage and perhaps finish in the top 5. In any case, after surviving all that has been dealt to him so far in his career, anything looks possible. “If there was a Robert Gesink rule book to survival,” Gesink said, “I wouldn’t hand it out because my rivals would know my secrets.”