Omega Pharma Quick Step team heading to South American race
Short on racing and wins in 2011 due to the bad crashes which ruled him out of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, Tom Boonen is looking to start racing early in 2012 in order to make up for lost time.
The Belgian traditionally makes his season debut in the Tour of Qatar, which runs next season from February 6-11, but there are options to race in January. One is the first UCI WorldTour race, the Santos Tour Down Under (January 15 – 22). The other is the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, which runs from January 23 – 29.
According to Quick Step’s Wilfried Peeters, the latter is being considered. “The Tour de San Luis is indeed an option” he told Sporza. “But there is no decision yet. We must look at it quietly with the riders and the sponsors.”
The squad has already confimed that it will enter the race, as will the Liquigas-Cannondale team, Saxo Bank SunGard, Movistar and Ag2r La Mondiale. Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador are expected to lead the first two of those teams.
As for Boonen’s squad, the team will have a big change next year with Omega Pharma coming onboard, as well as several big name riders. These include world time trial champion Tony Martin plus the Velits brothers, who are part of a HTC Highroad contingent joining, as well as current RadioShack rider Levi Leipheimer.
The decision on where the team sends Boonen may also depend on where it decides those other riders should themselves get their seasons underway. Boonen suffered a broken scaphoid bone in the Vuelta a España and had a bad concussion in the Tour de France.