Lotto Soudal's Philippe Gilbert would not be alone in claiming that 2020 was a year to forget, but the 38-year-old Belgian has more reason to look forward to the 2021 Tour de France after crashing on the opening stage and ending his season after just 34 days of racing. He probably has more reason than most in cycling to look forward to the cycling season.

After a coronavirus outbreak forced a race shutdown, Gilbert returned to competition on August 1 at Strade Bianche and quickly improved, finishing ninth a week later in Milan-San Remo.

Gilbert started the Tour de France, which was rescheduled for late August, with the intention of claiming his second stage win, but his ambitions were quickly dashed when he crashed on the rainy opening stage in Nice. For Gilbert, it was the second fractured kneecap of his career, after he injured the same knee in a dramatic crash on the descent of the Porte d'Alpe pass in the 2018 Tour.

Although doctors cleared him to return to racing at the Tour of Luxembourg in mid-September, Gilbert's knee continued to hurt and he abandoned the Bink Bank Tour before the third stage at the end of the month, ending the season with only 34 days of racing and the first winless season of his professional career.

"It was a year that I quickly forgot. Just when I was starting to get close to my best form, I had a crash at the Tour. I've never been able to reach my best level this year."

"And after 16 years in a row with at least one win, all of a sudden I had a season without one. I'm not always chasing wins, but this statistic filled me with pride," he said.

Gilbert's crashes were the result of two other crashes, one by Fabio Jacobsen in the group sprint on the opening stage of the Tour de Pollogne and the other by Detuning-Quick-Step teammate Remco Evenpoel on the descent of Muro di Solmano on Il Lombardia. It was just one of many crashes during an unconventional season, including a serious crash, that highlighted the dangers of racing more clearly than ever before.

"The first stage of the Tour was always dangerous. They [the race organizers] knew it would be an ice rink [if it rained], and yet the stage went on," Gilbert told L'Avenir, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

"In Milan-San Remo, we were forced to run through a tunnel with no lighting.

"But all the blame should not be placed on the organizers," he continued. He continued, "When it comes to Lemko's crash at Il Lombardia, the race organizers are to blame, even though it was Lemko who made the mistake. Lemko made a mistake, but the race organization was also to blame; when I crashed at the 2018 Tour, there was only one person to blame: me."

On the topic of Belgium's two current star riders, Evenpoel and Jumbo Visma's Wout Van Aert, Gilbert had words of praise for his former teammate, even if he is not fully convinced of Evenpoel's use of social media.

"He can be quite theatrical with his comments. Like [Tour de France winner] Taddei Pogachar, he runs a brilliant race.

Regarding this year's Milan-San Remo winner Van Aert, Gilbert continued: "If I were him, I would try to conquer all the monuments first. Il Lombardia may be too tough, but to win a Grand Tour you need to lose a few kilos, but he can win anywhere."

Milano-Sanremo is the only monument missing from Gilbert's own Parma, but according to HLN, he told L'Avenir that he is not obsessed with winning the Italian classic before ending his career.

"That race is still in the back of my mind, but there are some other good races left on my wish list, like the E3 Binckbank Classic (E3 Saxo Bank Classic in 2021) and Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders.

And he's also got the Tour de France on his wish list.

"I crashed in both 2018 and 2020 and was not selected for the Tour de France in 2019. It would be a shame if this is the end of my history with the Tour de France," Gilbert said. 'I look forward to starting there again.'

Here are some bicycle-related highlights from today's Black Friday sale. Check out our Black Friday Bicycle Sale Guide to find bicycles, helmets, clothing, and everything related to cycling.

Today's Deal: USA

Today's Deal: UK