This Tuesday 23rd of April, Belgian climber Kobe Goossens will return into competition in the Tour de Romandie, a six-day stage race.
The 27 year old rider from Leuven will pin his number for the first time in eight months since his crash during the Vuelta a España. He was sidelined due to a knee injury that required him to undergo several operations.
The injury stopped Goossens from trying to do as well as his fantastic first part of the season in 2023. He achieved his first victories as a professional rider on Mallorca in January, the Trofeo Andratx and the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, followed by a thirteenth place in Paris-Nice, a sixth place in the Tour of Sicily and a top 10 in the third stage of the Tour de Romandie.
Kobe Goossens now makes his comeback in a World Tour stage race that starts with a 2.3 kilometer prologue through the streets of Payerne. An individual time trial of 15 kilometers is scheduled for Friday in Oron, in addition to two uphill finishes in Marécottes and Leysin and also two hilly stages towards Fribourg and Vernier that could be concluded by a sprint.
In addition to Goossens, the selection of Intermarché-Wanty also includes Louis Meintjes, recent winner of a stage of Itzulia Basque Country who is participating for the fourth year in a row. They are joined by the young climber Alexy Faure Prost, the rouleurs Rune Herregodts and Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, and the fast Tom Paquot and Dion Smith.
“During my first participation in the Tour de Romandie in 2021, I won the mountain jersey thanks to several breakaways in bad weather circumstances. I like this race and that is why I am happy to return into competition here, eight months after my crash in the Vuelta. My knee injury is finally behind me, after a first operation in September and two more in February. Due to these physical problems, I missed several weeks of training weeks last winter, but prior to this Tour de Romandie I was able to increase the volume and intensity of my rides during a training camp in Calpe. I will take the race day by day and help my teammates as much as possible. My goal is to get back into a race rhythm before I join the team for altitude training in Andorra, in preparation for the Critérium du Dauphiné. I'm really looking forward to joining my teammates and staff again and continue building my shape together with them. »
