Klaas Lodewyck goes into an important seaso with the BMC team. After a heart surgery, he wants to show that he can still compete at the elite level. "My heart beats better than before. The doctor saved my career."

Last year Klaas Lodewyck was informated that he suffered from cardiac arrhythmia that caused by an excess of adrenaline in his body. He therefore underwent two operations in October. At the BMC training camp in Denia, Lodewyck had the feeling that his heart has the right rhythm.

"If I'm going deep, I sometimes have the feeling: Wow, there's something wrong," he told Het Nieuwsblad. "But that's because my heart now beats a lot faster. When I go deep, my heart now gradually reaches 190bpm and doesn't reach a peak as it did in the past."

Lodewyck agrees that it is not easy to trust his heart again. "Some doctors told me: "Stop it, it's over." But they have checked me after my surgery and confirm that there is no problem anymore."

He is now looking forwards to the coming season. "I have not been riding for five months so perhaps people have forgotten me. But I am convinced that it will be a good season if I can do my schedule in a normal way. In the classics, I want to be there to support my team leaders deep into the finales."