Refreshed Jungels ready for Tour de Pologne challenge

Image 1 of 5

With a two-week training block at Livigno under his belt, Bob Jungels is ready to kick start the second half of the 2017 season at the Tour de Pologne. The QuickStep-Floors rider hasn't raced since defending his Luxembourg road race title in June. The national championships were the only races in June for the 24-year-old after winning a stage and the best young rider classification, while finishing eighth overall at the Giro d'Italia in May.

"After the Giro, I think I recovered quite well. I took it easy for a week, and then I actually went back to Italy, in Sardinia, with my girlfriend, for a nice vacation. I brought my bike there and restarted with really, really easy spinning," Jungels said of his post-Giro relaxation. "Going into the nationals I felt I was coming back to my normal level after a good period of recovery, so I was of course delighted to convert my form into a win and pull on the national jersey for one more year. It is always an honour to represent your country around the world."

A professional since 2013, Jungels made his Tour de France debut in 2015 but is yet to return to the French Grand Tour where he placed 27th overall. This July, Jungels was training at altitude as teammate Marcel Kittel won five stages and Dan Martin rode to sixth place overall. While he missed the success of the team, Jungels explained he enjoys the experience of altitude training and staying in the one location.

"I have just concluded a two-week altitude training camp in Livigno with the team. It was perfect to have 13 riders together to push each other and get a good block of training under the belt, and of course have some fun when we were not on the bike," Jungels said. "We were fortunate to stay at Alpen Village, which is a perfectly located hotel in the mountains, serving great food, which is something you truly appreciate when being away for two full weeks, spending six hours a day in the saddle."

Jungels rode the Tour de Pologne in his first year with the team in 2016 and was one of several mass abandons on the final day due to bad weather. Unsure how he will far in his first stage race since the Giro, Jungels added he is aiming to build a strong platform for further success in 2017.

"The camp was especially interesting for me as this was the first time I have done two altitude camps in one year. I am hoping we will see the benefits of that in the second half of the season, and why not, maybe now in Poland where I will come back to racing for the Tour de Pologne," said Jungels. "It's a very nice and hard race that I like and I think it is a good option for us riders who do not do the Tour to try something over there – I am for sure keen to do my best in order to get a good result in my first outing after this off period."