TOM BOONEN RETURNS TO RACING

• Monday, 28 May 2007
• Cycling Weekly
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The Belgian Quick Step team today announced that Tom Boonen will make his comeback to racing at the Tour of Belgium later this week. The former world champion will lead a team of eight as he starts his build up to the Tour de France.

Boonen missed last weeks Tour of Catalonia due to a fractured toe sustained on a training ride, but is already returning to action. “Thankfully my broken toe isn’t causing me too many problems and I even managed to do some training a few days after the injury,” Boonen said in a press release put out by his team.

“My shin and knee areas are still quite painful meaning I can’t really do any intense training. I’m behind with my training but I think it is time to start racing again getting myself back into the rhythm of things in preparation for the Tour de France.”

Boonen shone in the Belgium semi-classics this spring, but struggled in the bigger races. Amazingly, Quick Step still haven’t won a ProTour race this year. The five-day Tour of Belgium, that runs from May 30 to June 3, is part of the lower ranking UCI European Calendar

“Gaining a win won’t be my main objective as I’ll only be able to tell at what point my condition is during the race,” Boonen continued. “We have a very strong team; if the occasion arises I’ll be more than happy to put myself at my team-mate’s disposal as they have so many times helped me gain my victories”.