Ronde favourite is pleased he didn’t fly back to Monaco after Gent-Wevelgem victory
Tom Boonen (Quick Step) was due to fly back to his home in Monaco immediately after his victory in last Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem; instead he stayed behind in Belgium, “and that was the right decision,” he said, according to De Standaard.
Boonen had, by and large, enjoyed a successful start to 2011; after making the transition from sprinter to classics king a few years ago, he has been reluctant to make the journey back, and so has avoided many possible bunch sprints. Nevertheless he took the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar and finished third in the final one.
It went wrong though, when the Belgian caught ‘flu shortly before Tirreno-Adriatico; he was healthy in time to start, but lost some of his condition and failed to feature in the race. The knock on effect of this saw a distinctly below par Boonen start Milano-Sanremo.
His victory in Gent-Wevelgem, the second in his career after his 2004 win, puts Boonen’s classics campaign back on the rails.
“After my illness in Tirreno-Adriatico, I was not good enough in Milan-Sanremo,” he said. “After that, things went better day after day; but I could win Gent-Wevelgem even though I wasn’t at the top of my form.”
The winner of the 2005 and 2006 Rondes van Vlaanderen has put the last week’s time in his home country to good use.
“Fortunately I have got a good feeling after some thorough training of Wednesday on the course of the Ronde,” he said. “It’s been good that I stayed here.
“Before Gent-Wevelgem, I had explored with Sylvain Chavanel part of the course, but not really thoroughly. Moreover, after the Primavera, I had only seen the Flemish hills during Dwars door Vlaanderen. Now I feel as I want to feel at the prospect of the Ronde.”
With last year’s winner Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) apparently close to his top form again, after his victory in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen last Saturday, everyone will be looking at the Swiss rider once more. Boonen acknowledges that Cancellara is the man to beat, but intends to take the race to him this time.
“Naturally Fabian Cancellara starts as the outstainding favourite. If everyone looks to last year’s winner, we might give him a nice race. My dream is that I can escape quickly in a group, working with some strong riders, who want to race.
“A repeat of last year is possible,” he said. “But now I won’t make the same mistake on the Muur as I did last year. I will take the right [side] to send me up.”