Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) has declared himself ready for Sunday’s Belgian championships, despite climbing off his bike 80km from the finish of yesterday’s final Tour de Suisse stage. The Classics rider, who enjoyed unprecedented success this spring, had planned in advance to abandon the race so as to catch his flight home to Belgium.
“It was planned that I would stop at that point,” the Belgian explained to Het Nieuwsblad. “Otherwise I would never have made my eight o’clock flight. It was a two-hour drive after the finish, and it was already tight.
“I climbed off 80km early, but that makes no difference,” he explained. “It was a very difficult stage; it was fast right from the start, and the peloton split into six pieces. Then everything came together and I worked for Levi [Leipheimer].
Despite not challenging for any stages, Boonen is happy with the condition he has built up during the race. He has certainly come out of the nine-day race better than in 2010, when he was brought down in the crash that involved the coming together of Mark Cavendish and Heinrich Haussler at the end of stage four. The impact aggravated a knee injury that he had picked up in the Tour of California, and saw the Belgian miss most of the summer, including the Tour de France.
With the Olympic games his big summer target, Boonen will not be riding the Tour this year, but is happy about his chances of taking a second black, yellow and red driekleur jersey.
“It’s always strange to ride the Tour of Switzerland,” he said. “It’s good preparation for what’s to come, but then you don’t want to take too many risks. The main thing is that I’ve ridden a lot of kilometres, and sat on the bike for a lot of hours. I feel good, and that gives me confidence for the Belgian championships.”
Boonen has taken the elite Belgian title just once in his career, in 2009, with the current holder his friend and former Monaco neighbour Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing). With his form ready, he has decided to sit out the 1.1 ranked warm up race in Halle-Ingooigem on Wednesday, preferring to rest up instead.
“I don’t think I’ll ride in Halle-Ingooigem,” he said. “I’ll rest on Monday and Tuesday, nd I think I’ll be recovered by Wednesday; then I’ll ride two hard training sessions.
“I’m looking forward to this Belgian championships,” he added. “It’s in Geel - a home race - and that always gives you an extra boost.”