2005 World Champion took an encouraging 21st place finish in today's bunch sprint
Following his recent bout with the flu that nearly kept him out of Tirreno-Adriatico, Tom Boonen is slowly recovering his forces.
Unsurprisingly, Boonen admitted that the first road stage on Thursday was not terribly pleasant. The QuickStep leader finished 142nd on the day, over a minute and a half behind one of his principle rivals in a little over a week in Sanremo, Tyler Farrar.
"Early in the day, I didn't have that bad of a feeling, but when I had to open the throttle fully, it was all over. I didn't have anything," said the three-time Paris-Roubaix and two-time Tour of Flanders champion.
The 30 year old from Mol admits that he's still not completely better, but knows that Tirreno-Adriatico is extremely important to the rest of his spring hopes.
"I'm clearly not yet recovered from my fly. The fever is still hanging in my body. This was not good, and I'm not used to it. I need Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-Sanremo ahead of the Flemish Classics. The kilometers make me better."
Boonen goes so far as to admit that he probably shouldn't even be racing, chalking up his spring's fate to either one of two possibilities: get healthy, or get sicker.
"It's actually not good to make such efforts right now, but for future races, it will be important. I can now go in two directions: I will either relapse, or I will slowly get stronger. Hopefully, it will be the second."
Following Thursday's second stage where he finished well off the pace of the sprinters priming for glory next weekend, Boonen wasn't too concerned.
"I'm saving the panic for now. I trained properly in the winter, and I can still fall back on a solid base of fitness."
Apparently, Boonen made the right call on his health and despite running a tight rope between having to race to prepare or getting sicker and losing everything, things seem to be heading in the positive direction following today's stage. Boonen finished 21st, in the same time as stage winner JJ Haedo of Saxo Bank SunGard.
With sickness seemingly leaving his body, Boonen can now focus on his slow progression toward top form for his main goals this spring: the Classics far to the north. It should be okay even if the sickness does stick around a little while longer, so long as he can keep racing. If he comes into Milan-Sanremo a little off, it won't be the end of the world; the much-coveted cobbled Classics are still over three weeks distant.