Laurens ten Dam (born 13 November 1980) is a Dutch cyclist, who competes in gravel cycling. He formerly competed professionally in road cycling between 2003 and 2019 for the , , , , and squads. During his road racing career, Ten Dam took two victories – stage wins at the 2006 Course de Solidarność et des Champions Olympiques and the 2008 Critérium International.
Career A native of the village of Zuidwolde in Groningen, Ten Dam started racing in 2000 with . He remained with the team until 2003, before spending one season at both in 2004 and in 2005. He then spent two years with in 2006 and 2007, where he recorded a stage victory at the 2006 Course de Solidarność et des Champions Olympiques, and a top-ten overall finish at the 2007 Volta a Catalunya (ninth).
Rabobank (2008–2015) Ten Dam joined for the 2008 season, and won a stage at the Critérium International. The following year, he won the mountains classification at the 2009 Tour de Romandie. After no victories in 2010, Ten Dam recorded top-ten finishes at the 2011 editions of the Tour Down Under (fifth), the Tour of California (sixth), and the Tour de Suisse (eighth). 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 an initial 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. He finished in tenth place overall at the 2016 Tour of California, but this was his only top-ten overall finish in three years with the team.
Retirement from road racing While riding for , Ten Dam announced his retirement from road racing in July 2019, but moved into gravel cycling.
In May 2021, Ten Dam won the Gravel Locos race in Hico, Texas.
Personal life Ten Dam is married with two children. Since his retirement from road racing, Ten Dam is able to spend more time with his family and life has become less regimented. In 2021, Ten Dam started a podcast called the "Beter Worden Podcast" () in which several aspects of improving on the bike are highlighted and discussed with a human movement scientist.
Major results Source:
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 de Vitré 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 Unbound Gravel 200 2022 4th Unbound Gravel 200 2023 4th Unbound Gravel 200
General classification results timeline Grand Tour general classification results Grand Tour 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Giro d'Italia — — 28 — — — — — — — 34 35 DNF Tour de France — 21 60 — 58 28 139 92 73 67 51 — Vuelta a España — — — DNF —8 DNF 44 — — — — —Major stage race general classification results Race 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Paris–Nice — 42 — — DNF 43 — — — 122 — — 44 Tirreno–Adriatico — — — — — — — — 80 — — — — Volta a Catalunya9 — — 28 12 77 60 62 DNF 80 16 65 31 Tour of the Basque Country 62 29 — 59 — — 39 — — — 60 DNF — Tour de Romandie 30 59 42 — — 39 — 24 63 — 37 36 — Critérium du Dauphiné — — — — — — 13 — — — — DNF 86 Tour de Suisse 65 10 — DNF 8 23 — 13 20 72 — — — Tour de Pologne 18 85 — — — — — — — — — — —
Classics results timeline Monument2004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019 Milan–San Remo — — — 56 — — — — — — — — — — — — Tour of Flanders — — — 48 — — — — — — — — — — — — Paris–Roubaixcolspan=16 Liège–Bastogne–Liège — — 71 — DNF — 31 53 63 49 — 62 — — — DNF Giro di Lombardia — — — — — DNF — DNF 39 DNF DNF — — DNF — 94Classic2004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019 Strade Bianchecolspan=3 — — — — — — — — — — DNF OTL — Amstel Gold Race DNF 101 41 43 50 — 52 — — 44 51 — — — 94 — La Flèche Wallonne — — 55 — 34 — 112 33 56 79 30 101 — — 49 — Clásica de San Sebastián — — — 62 — — 84 39 56 — 57 — DNF 50 — — Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec colspan=6 rowspan=2 — DNF — — — — DNF — — — Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal — 78 — — — — 96 — — —
Major championship results timeline Event 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Olympic Games Road race — colspan="3" 64 colspan="3" — colspan="3" — colspan="3" World Championships Road race — — — — DNF — — — — 119 DNF — — — — — — National Championships Road race 25 — 84 35 6 38 32 — 36 DNF 18 40 DNF 47 DNF 58 73
+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish NH Not held OTL Outside time limit
See also List of Dutch Olympic cyclists
References
External links
Team Sunweb profile