Lotto Soudal's Thomas de Gendt expects "very strange things" to happen at the Tour de France, a stage race to be held in France this summer.

"If the next race is the Tour, I expect something very strange to happen," de Gendt told Het Nieuwsblad on Monday. 'You have riders who are supposed to perform well performing badly and vice versa.'

"At the beginning of the season we go out to race to warm up and prepare for the other races. Some athletes need tough races to be in top condition, others don't."

De Gendt said over the weekend that he was glad Paris-Nice was held last week.

"I wanted to go deep one last time," he explained, and now that the Giro d'Italia in May, which De Gendt was scheduled to compete in, has been postponed, he is training with an eye toward competing in the Tour.

"I think I will be forced to start training for the Tour," he said. But if there are any races before then, I want to be in them."

Meanwhile, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told HLN.be over the weekend that "there are still more than 100 days until the Grande Pearl (Nice, June 27)."

Tour organizer ASO's April races, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Flèche Wallonne, are all likely to be canceled or postponed, but Prudhomme is positive about the enthusiasm that will occur when the pro peloton returns to action He states.

"Once the race resumes, the thirst for the race will be immense.