Belgian champion recovering from intestinal infection that saw him spend three days in hospital
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is making good progress in his recovery from the intestinal infection that saw him hospitalised earlier in the month, Sporza reports. The Belgian champion’s team doctor Yvan Van Mol gave him the green light to attend the Omega Pharma-Quick Step training camp in Mallorca this week, and directeur sportif Wilfried Peeters is confident that his rider has not been set back far by his illness.
“The worst is over,” the 48-year-old former rider told the Gazet van Antwerpen.
“Boonen had a virus that led to an infection,” Peeters explained. “Fortunately, since last weekend, he’s been able to eat and train. Eating is important; if you can eat, you can train.
“We will look at Tom’s programme from day to day,” he added. “Maybe he’ll stay in Mallorca longer than the others. Tom has another two months to get ready.”
Following its team building adventures in Slovakia, Omega Pharma-Quick Step is now getting down to the serious business of preparing for the 2013 season.
As part of this, riders are working out their personal schedules with team staff, undergoing physical tests, and posing for the team’s official 2013 photos, as trainer and directeur sportif Tom Steels explained.
“We’ll be working in three groups," said the former Belgian champion. "The first one will be made up of riders who will be going to Australia, who have to perform specific workouts that focus on rhythm more than the others.
“We will also be working on fine tuning our sprint trains to get back into the swing, and then we’ll be making the most of the situation to spend some time together and work on the time trial with our Specialized bikes.
“Anyway, overall, we still have basic work to do,” he added.