2005 world road race champion Tom Boonen looks on course to returning to full competition soon, with the Quick Step rider confirming that he is no longer experiencing symptoms of knee pain and that he will take part in the Innergetic Pijl this Sunday.
“These past few days I've been training constantly, and well,” he said today. “The knee hasn't been bothering me, the pain seems to be gone. I still have to be careful but my recovery is in the right direction. This is why I was happy to accept the Maes family's invitation to take part in the Innergetic Pijl.
“It will be a lovely Sunday of sport and fun and I hope that the cycling tourists will come out in force like last year, or even better. It's going to be a lot of fun.”
As he suggests, the Innergetic Pijl is a non-competitive event open to riders of varied levels. It features routes of 90, 50 and 25 kilometres.
Boonen has already confirmed that he will miss this year’s worlds, but will be happy with the progress he has made of late. He aggravated his knee when he crashed during the Tour of California. The joint was healing but then he fell again in the Tour de Suisse, necessitating a knee operation and thus missing the Tour.
Since then he has been working towards his comeback. He was originally scheduled to return to racing in tomorrow’s Paris-Brussels, but scar tissue in his knee meant that his recovery was slowed.
Team manager Patrick Lefevere talked about the issue to the Gazet van Antwerpen towards the end of August, saying that his star rider was facing a delay. “The scar tissue is causing issues,” he said, adding that it is quite a common occurrence. “We had hoped that Tom would be able to start in Paris-Brussels on September 11th, but we have to drop this idea now. The [Circuit] Franco-Belge on 30th September is now the goal.”
Sunday’s event is organised by one of the team’s sponsors, Latexco. Boonen will be joined by Quick Step team-mates Kurt Hovelijnck and Frederique Robert and, doubtlessly, by hundreds of fans.