How is Tiesj Benoot doing? “I rode my best-ever three-minute numbers with a hernia”

Benoot made a wrong move in the gym during an altitude camp with his new team in December, and felt pain in his glute the next day. “Nothing abnormal, I thought. Everything is new — from my bike to my cleats. Pretty much all the contact points with the bike have changed, but it soon became clear that wasn’t it,” he said on the podcast.

An MRI at the end of January revealed a lumbar hernia. Despite that, the classics specialist did not suffer much power loss. “With that hernia, I was still putting out my best-ever values over three minutes, but it couldn’t go on like this.” The result was surgery — and the Belgian having to miss his favourite races of the year.

“It was a disappointment to miss the classics, but I’ve been able to accept it,” said the 2018 Strade Bianche winner. And for Benoot, missing the spring itself was not even the worst part. “The worst thing was that it would have been my first spring with my new team, Decathlon CMA CGM. I wanted to prove myself straight away.”

Now, a month after the operation, things are improving for the Belgian. “If I compare today with a week ago, I’ve made steps. I already have more confidence in the things I do, even in daily life. It’s going faster than I expected.” Benoot is hoping he can soon start riding on the rollers again, which would finally allow him to plan ahead.

“I’d like to be racing again by the summer,” is his first ambition. “But I also don’t want to skip any steps.” His participation in the Tour de France is therefore far from certain. “I don’t want to go to the Tour at 80 percent. There’s no point in that. It will depend on how quickly I’m allowed to ride and put load on my back.”

If not, there are still the autumn classics for the new Decathlon CMA CGM leader — such as the Canadian races and Il Lombardia. “I’ve always really enjoyed racing in Montréal. I’d obviously love to be there in Canada,” he said positively.

Finally, it was impossible not to talk briefly about teammate Paul Seixas. Benoot has only done one altitude camp with the young Frenchman and does not know him particularly well yet, but the Belgian noticed he is not a typical young rider. “He isn’t fixated on wattages and nutrition. He’s not the guy constantly checking his training. I think there’s still a lot of progress in him,” he warned rivals.

At least as long as Seixas remains his teammate. Last week, HLN reported rumours that Seixas is of interest to UAE Team Emirates–XRG. Benoot hopes that does not happen. “It would be better for racing if he stays with us and can challenge Pogačar from there,” the Decathlon CMA CGM rider concluded.