Boonen "15 percent better than in 2004"

Patrick Lefévère, Quick.Step team manager, has been giving lots of kudos to Tom Boonen for his one-of-a-kind victory in Saturday's E3 Prijs Vlaanderen. "That was something truly great," he said to the Belgian press after the win.

"Even if Tom hadn't won. To break away like that with Klier, even though they were racing hard behind... I was standing 500 m after the Taaienberg, and they were all at their limit, even Peter Van Petegem. That was a very successful dress rehearsal. I think that Tom has added 15 percent to his capabilities since last year," he concluded.