Although he broke his leg in September, Robert Gesink believes that things should be on track for him to regain strong form by the time the first of two named big season goals comes around. He returned to road training in late October and since then has been making solid progress.
“Normally the goals would be the same as last year, but maybe a little later,” he said, referring to his early-season victory in the 2011 Tour of Oman. “Of course the Tour will be a big goal again and the end of the year with the world championships in Valkenburg in the Netherlands…they are the main moments of the season, so I have got some time to get back to the old level.”
Gesink was speaking in a video interview carried out by Rabosport.com, a new website dedicated to the team and having more English language content than the previous webpage. He was in good spirits, explaining that he’d miss the upcoming team training camp in Fuerteventura due to the imminent birth of his first child. He doesn’t mind not going on the trip, knowing that being with his girlfriend is more important at this moment in time.
Gesink’s season came to a premature end when he crashed while out training on September 18th. He had been building form towards his big end of season goal at the Giro di Lombardia, but instead was taken to hospital and had a large pin inserted to help the bone heal (see below).
Fortunately there have been no complications, and his recovering is progressing well. “I’m pretty good actually, things are going a bit faster than we expected. I am doing good training now, although of course there is still a different between the two legs. The right leg has less muscle, you can notice that I broke it not too long ago, but I am doing pretty good. I did four hours training this Sunday, it was a hard training but it went pretty well…for now it is okay.”
His ongoing recovery will see him do work on and off the bike, with strength building exercises for the weaker limb necessary to help him get the power back. He is cautious about forecasting that things will continue as smoothly as they have been, acknowledging that sometimes complications can crop up, but by and large he is satisfied with how things have been thus far, and hopes the progress continues.
The Dutchman is just 25 years of age but has taken top six finishes in the 2009 Vuelta a España and the 2010 Tour de France. His performance in this year’s Tour was stymied by crashes and things have been complicated somewhat by the leg break, but he remains the country’s best prospect for a Grand Tour victory.
Once he’s fully recovered, his climbing ability should see him once again battle for big results.
See the video interview below, courtesy of Rabosport.com.