Jürgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) is making steady progress after his crash and subsequent withdrawal from the Vuelta al País Vasco and has been on a reconnaissance trip to the French island Corsica where the 100th edition of the Tour de France will start on June 29. The French island will provide the roads and the scenery for the first three stages.

Van den Broeck went on a scouting trip accompanied by Sports Director Herman Frison.

“We did a reconnaissance of the first three stages of the next Tour,” explained Frison. “The first will probably end with a bunch sprint, like most people expect. The next two stages are a bit tougher. We did a recon of the final 30 km of the first stage, 100 km of stage 2 and of the third stage we did the whole recon. Jürgen didn’t have any nuisance anymore after his crash in the Vuelta al País Vasco.”

“The wind was coming from all sides on the island and there was much traffic, especially in cities like Ajaccio, Bastia and Calvi. Logistically it will be a huge job to bring all the material onto Corsica; everything has to come by boat: the cars, the truck, the bus. Now Jurgen will have a training camp at the Sierra Nevada and then he’ll ride the Tour de Romandie.”