Louis Meintjes (opens in new tab) (Dimension Data) (opens in new tab) is looking to bring down the curtain on a forgotten season at the Tour of Guangxi (opens in new tab). At the start of stage 5 in Liuzhou, the South African lamented the loss of two months of his season due to two crashes and admitted he wants to forget 2019.

The climber was one of several riders to fall in a crosswind on the second stage of Paris-Nice, injuring his groin and out of action until the Tour de Romandie. Then, just 10 days after his return, he was involved in a late crash on stage 4 of the Tour of California.

The crash broke his wrist, and Meintjes did not return until the Adriatica Ionica race in late July. The 27-year-old's stalled start to the season left him unable to find his racing rhythm for much of the year.

"It wasn't good," Meintjes told Cycling News. "I had a pretty big crash in Paris-Nice and another one in California. I had a pretty big crash in Paris-Nice and another one in California, both times I was off the bike for at least three weeks."

"At least there were positive signs this year. That's a good thing."

Meintjes finished the Vuelta a España in 2019 and managed to compete in the Grand Tour, finishing seventh on the mountain stage 18 to Veselil de la Sierra.

He made the break of the day and then went on the attack in Puerto de la Morcuera, finishing as second from the break with Nairo Quintana and Tadey Pogachar, behind stage winner Sergio Iguita (EF Education First)

The team finished the season in second place.

Another good finish at the end of the season was 11th place at Gran Piemonte. But despite these sparks of hope in September, he is glad to have the year behind him and to be able to focus on the future.

"I'm looking forward to the off-season," he said. Not that there were that many races this year, but mentally it's been taxing."

"I worked and worked and worked ...... to get back into racing. Hopefully now I can restart and make a plan."

It is not yet certain what the South African climber plans to do, but with the recent release of the Tour de France route, Meintjes is interested in returning to the race where he finished eighth overall in 2016 and 2017.

The route for the 2020 Tour has a lot of climbing and only one time trial, which seems perfect for a pure climber like Meintjes.

When asked about his plans for 2020, he replied, "I don't know. Maybe the Tour again. I think it's a pretty good course. I will probably focus on that. I'm in China right now, so I'll probably start the season a little bit later."

The Tour of Guangxi will be Team Dimension Data's last World Tour race. With it, nine new members, including world hour record holder Victor Kampenaerts, have been announced, and five, including Mark Cavendish, are certain to leave the team.

But despite the upheaval around him, Meintjes said, "It's business as usual," and no doubt hopes that the ill-fated 2019 will not become the new normal.