Jelle Geens, who will be lining up to compete at his third Olympic Games in ten days time, is ready to make a splash on the biggest stage.

The Belgian star, who has a number of WTCS podiums to his name, has had his ups and downs over the past 18 months, but believes he is closing in on some real form ahead of the men’s race in Paris.

After a block of altitude training in Font Romeu with his training squad, the 31-year-old finished fourth at WTCS Hamburg last weekend and believes he can get even better.

“A step in the right direction”

Despite finishing on a WTCS podium in four of the last five years, Geens has struggled to consistently feature at the top, with 15th at WTCS Yokohama preceding his fourth place finish in Hamburg this season.

However, on his day, the Zolder native has demonstrated he can go head-to-head with anyone. Hamburg, he says, was a good indicator that he still has what it takes.

“I’m happy that I’ve done a race that I can be proud of, it’s been awhile and for some reason over the last 18 months races just haven’t happened as I’ve hoped.

“I’m happy that I am fighting for medals again, the first three were too strong today [in Hamburg], but it was close and in the build up to Paris, this race was not much of a goal, but more of a step in the right direction.” 

Big things coming

With everything geared towards performing in Paris, Geens said in his post-race interview that he will spend the next ten days fine tuning to be in with a chance of a medal on July 30th.

“This whole buildup has been towards Paris, I didn’t care too much about the first races of the season, and I only ended up doing Yokohama where I wasn’t really ready.

“I’ve had a good training block at altitude in Font Romeu, and with ten days to go now, I’m just fine tuning and getting ready to go in Paris.”