In the absence of spring classics specialist Tom Boonen the Etixx-QuickStep team from Patrick Lefevre will be riding in support of Zdenek Stybar and Niki Terpstra at the Tour of Flanders.
At the press conference in the Unilin flooring headquarters in Wielsbeke, Boonen played down the high expectations and ruled out his participation for the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix, aiming to come back instead at the Tour of Turkey in May.
It was rumoured Boonen would start in Paris-Roubaix ever since a tweet from Omega Pharma’s ceo Marc Coucke, who claimed there was still a one percent chance. A seemingly fit Tom Boonen joined the Etixx-QuickStep team on their reconnaissance ride on Wednesday.
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“[Coucke] kept saying, 'Is there a one percent chance?' and I told him there was maybe 0.01 percent chance. At this time of the season everything is news,” Boonen said. “Last week I started playing with the idea that I might be able to be competitive in Paris-Roubaix if I could race in De Panne, the Ronde and the Scheldeprijs.
“I asked Ivan [team doctor Vanmol] and straight away he said 'no.' I’m ahead of schedule and on Sunday I did a few accelerations. Then Stybi [Stybar] asked me to join in for the reconnaissance. Also Niki was texting me. I had to train anyway so I joined the boys.
“Riding my bike for three to four hours is no problem, longer is a problem. It hurts when I pull on the handlebars, when I’m hopping on the sidewalks. I’ll probably come back at the Tour of Turkey but that’s not decided yet. I might build up to do [the Tour of] California or the Giro [d’Italia],” Boonen said.
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