Former sprinter feels that speed is still there for current Belgian star
Newly appointed Quick Step coach Tom Steels is optimistic about the Belgian team’s coming season, especially for the sprinters, he told Sporza, the Belgian TV channel for whom he has also been working as an expert summariser. 2010 was a pretty ordinary year for Quick Step, mostly thanks to star rider Tom Boonen’s knee injury, but Steels thinks that things will improve this time.
“My role within the team is twofold,” he explained. “First, the classic role as a team manager, and on the other hand, to work with the individual trainers of some riders and to give training advice to others.”
“In Calpe, we are going to do easy endurance training,” he added, “working on specific points and see how everyone responds to the workouts. Now is the time to make any necessary adjustments.”
The team’s biggest star is Steels’ namesake Tom Boonen, who sat out many of the big races of this year thanks to a knee injury picked up in a crash at the Tour of California. The former World champion returned to racing close the the end of the season, but the enforced layoff means that he is better rested than many of his rivals.
“Tom gives the impression of being fresh,” said Steels. “The start of the season will be very important for Boonen because the last season for a part went out of the window through his knee injury.”
“The fact that he also got a few taps will make him extra sharp,” he added. “Boonen is still someone who wants to win.”
As a four-time Belgian champion, and winner of nine Tour de France stages between 1998 and 2000, Steels knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a top sprinter. Although the team has signed the German Gerard Ciolek and Italian Francesco Chicchi, Steels feels that Boonen can still be one himself, should the 30-year-old want to do so.
“Tom will indicate himself whether he still wants to belong to that train,” he said. “We will discuss it in peace while we’re there.”
“Boonen is certainly not totally lost in the mass sprint,” he continued, “far from it. But maybe he’ll be more inclined to participate on a tricky arrival or in a sprint after a hard competition.”
As well as Boonen, Chicchi and Ciolek the team has two young sprinters to add to the mix. “We have also added Andreas Stauff and the young Fréderique Robert,” said Steels, “who we also want to see at work. In the sprint area we have so much quality in the squad”
With so much speed in the team, Steels is certainly feeling good about Quick Step’s prospects for the coming year.
“It will either be a good season or a super season,” Steels predicteded confidently. “A lot of factors will play a role: can younsters such as Stauff reach the top? Will Ciolek quickly find his place in the team? That’s what we have to wait and see.
“But I think Quick-Step, in any case, will have a strong team in depth.”