It hasn't been a straightforward summer for Tim Wellens, but on the rain-soaked roads of the Tour de Pollogne, the Belgian all-rounder is beginning to see real light at the end of the tunnel.

Wellens was one of the biggest victims of the mass crash caused by Philippe Macejuk (Bahrain-Victorias) at this year's Tour de Flanders, breaking his collarbone in four places.

The UAE Team Emirates rider needed two surgeries to fully heal his collarbone and said it still hurts when he is off the bike and in everyday life. But at least racing is a different story, thankfully.

On the plus side, "I haven't felt this good on the bike in a long time," he told Cycling News during the Tour de Pollogne

"It's been a long time since I've felt this good on the bike," he told Cycling News during the Tour de Pollogne.

Prior to Poland, Wellens' previous race after his crash in Flanders was this summer's Tour of Slovenia, where his best result was 66th on stage 3. Meanwhile, Pollogne is his first World Tour event, and Wellens, currently running 45th overall, told Cycling News, "Now I'm back where I belong.

However, Wellens admitted that his return to health has been a roller coaster ride. "I had the first surgery, then the plate came off, and then I had the second surgery on May 10, and the second surgery was a real shock, because I had a lot of pain, but I'm back to being healthy again," he said.

"So I thought it would be difficult to compete in the Tour, and I didn't because I wasn't up to the level. But now I've spent a lot of time training and I'm back to where I should be."

"I've been working a lot on my training and I'm back to where I should be.

Wellens says he was lucky to be able to train at home for a significant part of the summer, as he was already at altitude before the Tour de France.

The 32-year-old will work as part of the team as Joan Almeida, currently in second place overall, looks for his second win in Poland in three years.

"It's been a long time since I've raced, so I'll be in a full support role here," said Wellens himself, who won in Pologne in 2016. But after all the races in Poland, I have a chance and it's up to me to make the most of it."

"I'll do the Tour of Reny, then a lot of one-day races in Belgium and France, and finally the Tour of Guangxi. There are a lot of races, especially in September, but I have missed a lot of races in the last two months, so the total for the year is not that big."

Wellens is recovering well, but the effects are still noticeable, especially during his time off at home, which he calls "normal life."

"I still feel that my collarbone is broken. All the nerves are gone, so I don't feel it anymore," he said. A master of understatement, he adds, "In normal life, it's an annoyance. I notice that a lot," he says. [The clavicle fracture was so complex and split into so many pieces that they had to put in the longest plate and cut it really long. 'It hurts when I lay on the bed on one side. It's not a problem on the bike.

Wellens was lucky until Flanders. In a career dating back to 2012, when he turned pro as a stagiaire for Lotto, he had avoided broken bones in every crash. But the events of April 2, sadly, brought revenge on that personal "record."

"You are said to be a professional cyclist only after you break your collarbone. But whether the saying is true or not, there is no denying that after months of anxiety and hard recovery work, in Pollogne Wellens found his true place again in the group.