Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider ready to start training after vacation
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Belgian champion Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) was a pre-race favorite at the Grand Prix de Wallonie.(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) at the finish in Aalter.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Tom Boonen after the finish line in the men's road race(Image credit: Photopress.be)
Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra celebrate the Omega Pharma - QuickStep victory(Image credit: Sirotti)
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) leads the World Ports Classic.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Tom Boonen is ready to get begin training for the 2013 season. The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider said he “filled his batteries” with a vacation in Mauritius and is now preparing for his assault on the 2013 Classics but probably not the Tour de France.
“I need a few weeks without the bike. That also makes you hungrier,” he told Sporza.be. “The batteries are properly filled now, the hunger is there. The other day I caught myself thinking that I was ready to start training again.”
Boonen has yet to finalise his race calendar, but knows that he will race in January, either the Tour de San Luis in Argentina or the Tour Down Under In Australia.
“I'm at a point where I must have a lot of racing in my legs for the Classics. That worked this year,” he said.
Boonen bounced back after a number of disappointing seasons, winning 13 races in 2012 , including the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“It was a special year with the new Tour of Flanders and my fourth win in Roubaix," he said.
He will continue to concentrate on the spring Classics in 2013. He is looking to win his “fifth cobblestone trophy at Roubaix. I will be very happy if I can win another top Classic in my career,' he said.
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However Boonen does not expect to ride the Tour de France alongside new teammate Mark Cavendish.
“I have seen the route of the Tour next year and I honestly do not like it,” Boonen said.
