In his first appearance since undergoing a heart surgery in April, Robert Gesink exceeded even his own expectations by animating an action on decisive climbs to eventually finish eighth overall at the Tour de Pologne, only 1:41 down on race winner Rafał Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo). The Belkin Procycling rider did well not only considering his return to action after solving lingering health problems, but in comparison to current disposition presented by other Vuelta a Espana contenders, kicking off their second part of 2014 season following a summer break.

Even though Gesink admitted that a type of heart arrhythmia he had wasn’t too serious or unusual, a possibility of suffering an attack while competing in races badly affected his mental condition. Apparently the 30-year old Dutchman didn’t experience such problems more often than once in several months, but, in fact, a disease forced him out of the 2013 edition of the Giro d’Italia ahead of a penultimate stage, while he was placed tenth in the general classification.

"According to the doctors, this disease affects one person out of 20 and is not dangerous," explained the Belkin rider.

"The arrhythmia also doesn't occurs very often, about once a year. But I decided to undergo an ablation because, as a cyclist, it's never good in the head if you know something wrong can happen."

Gesink was considering a heart surgery for a long time before eventually making a positive decision, but it forced some serious changes to his race schedule nonetheless.

Participating in the Santos Tour Down Under as his final event before undergoing a surgery in April, the Belkin rider had to give up on his ambitions to race the Tour de France as his major Grand Tour of 2014 season, and admitted that following the race on TV was too difficult task to handle psychologically,

"I belonged to the Tour and if I can't be there, it's not good to watch it," he says

Instead, Gesink returned to action at the Tour de Pologne last week, and did exceptionally well even in regards to his own expectations.

"This was my first race again so I was happy to be back again on a bike," the Belkin rider told Cyclingnews. "To build up to the Vuelta, it was also a good experience."

"The good news is that I have no problem with my health," said the 29-year-old Gesink, who was fifth overall at the 2010 Tour de France.

Even though he managed to finish a WorldTour event inside the top ten overall, however, the Belkin rider admits that he remains uncertain what to expect from himself at the Vuelta and getting through all three-weeks in a good health would bo more valuable for him than a respectable placing in the general classification this time around.

"I don't know what to expect from the Vuelta this year," Gesink said. "Of course, I hope to do a good general classification. Even more importantly, for me it would be good to ride a race where I could look onto next year and say 'OK, I am back at a good level and I can work at a good level again'..."