Cycling news - De Gendt braced for unusual Tour de France due to riders' lack of racing

Updated 17/03/2020 at 11:02 GMT

Lotto Soudal's Thomas De Gendt says the lack of racing ahead of the planned Tour de France this summer means he is expecting 'very strange things' to happen.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto - Soudal) lors du contre-la-montre de la 4e étape / Paris-Nice 2020

Image credit: Getty Images

The global coronavirus outbreak has reaped havoc with the world of cycling with all races in Europe scheduled for the next month cancelled as a way to try to prevent the disease from spreading

As it stands, the Tour de France, scheduled to start in June, is set to go ahead meaning the will be a distinct lack of competitive racing leading up to the event.

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And De Gendt said he thinks this will throw up differing challenges for different riders, meaning we could see some surprises should the event go ahead.

"If the next race is the Tour, then I expect very strange things," De Gendt told Het Nieuwsblad on Monday. "Riders who you think should perform well will perform badly, and vice-versa.

"At the beginning of the season, you go to races to warm up and build up for other races," he said. "Some riders need tough races to get into top condition – others don't."

De Gendt said at the weekend that he was glad that Paris-Nice went ahead last week – and the 33-year-old Belgian went on the attack on the final stage on Saturday, knowing that it could be his last race for some time.

"I wanted to go deep one last time," he added.

"I think I will be forced to start working towards the Tour. But if there are any races that happen before then, then I want to race them."

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