Gesink targeting Tirreno-Adriatico, Ardennes and Tour de France

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Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) will target Tirreno-Adriatico, the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de France in 2015, as he looks to get his career back on track after heart surgery in 2015.

Gesink will head to Tenerife for a three-week altitude training camp before starting his 2015 season at the Volta ao Algarve. His first big goal of the year will be Tirreno-Adriactico, which he was forced to abandon on stage four this season. His best performance at the race is his second place in 2011. Gesink will ride the Vuelta al País Vasco before returning to the Ardennes Classics for the first time since 2012. He has taken one podium at the Belgian trio of races with third place at Amstel Gold in 2009. After the Ardennes, he will take part in another altitude camp before riding the Tour de Suisse and then the Tour de France.

With Bauke Mollema having left the Dutch team for Trek Factory Racing, Gesink will have more leadership opportunities at LottoNL-Jumbo alongside Wilco Kelderman, Steven Kruijswick and Laurens Ten Dams.

Gesink is on the comeback trail after being forced off the bike early in the 2014 season due to a stress-induced heart arrhythmia. Gesink underwent surgery in May and made a tentative return to racing at the Dutch national championships but didn’t begin racing properly until the Tour de Pologne in August.

Despite the setbacks, Gesink is trying to stay positive. "Of course I sometimes wondered why I get to handle so many setbacks in my immediate environment," he told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf . "But that's the negative Dutch way of thinking. If you look at my performance, you can also say that I have been incredibly lucky in my life."