Tom Boonen
Tom Boonen
Tom Boonen]; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won the 2005 world road race championship. He is a member of the Etixx–Quick-Step team, and is a single-day road specialist with a strong finishing sprint. He won the cycling monuments Paris–Roubaix 4 times and the Tour of Flanders 3 times, among many other prestigious victories, such as prevailing 5 times in the E3 Harelbeke, winning 6 stages of the Tour de France and winning the...
ProfessionCyclist
Date of Birth15 October 1980
CityMol, Belgium
begin good hurt knee lacking start
I'm lacking a little competition, but the knee is fine. It doesn't hurt and it's good enough to start the Vuelta and begin my preparations for the world's.
felt legs monday tired tuesday
I had felt it coming. My legs felt really tired on Monday and Tuesday as well.
gave hard mario perfect riders until work
The Belgian riders did everything for me, ... I didn't have to work hard until the end. At the finish, Mario Aerts gave me perfect position.
bit general good looking mean morale rest sit win
It's good for the team's morale and now we'll be able to sit back a bit during the rest of the week. We're not looking to win the general classification but that doesn't mean we won't be going out to win.
easy good relax stage until won
It's good to have won that stage because now we can relax and take it easy until the end of Paris-Nice.
goal leave matter race stronger win
The world's is the only race that matter for me. My goal here at the Vuelta is sharpen my fitness. If I win a stage, great, but the most important thing at the Vuelta is to leave stronger than I came.
ahead matters ok others prepare worry
It's OK that the others are ahead of me here. It doesn't worry me. I really didn't try in this Vuelta, ... I'm only here to prepare for the world championships. That's the only thing that matters to me right now.
ahead came fitness leave might okay others peak percent reached top worry
It's okay that the others are ahead of me here. It doesn't worry me. I really didn't try in this Vuelta. I only came to the Vuelta to recuperate my fitness and I leave here at about 80 percent fitness. If I was here at top fitness I might not have reached the peak at the world's. At Madrid, I want to be 110 percent fitness and I didn't want to peak too early.
corner enter good hard hectic last perfectly sprint straight
First you have to be in a good position, then enter perfectly the last corner. Then you have to get out of the corner with enough speed. And only after that, you sprint straight away. It is going to be a very hectic and hard sprint.
riders
I don't want to look for any excuses, some riders were just better than me.
bad bit courage dozen fans fed financial front home interested lead leaving life listen main monaco nice normal parental people pleasant reason side south staring street train training twenty walk winter
The financial side of it is pleasant of course, but that is not the main reason for me leaving my parental home in Balen. I would like to lead a bit of a normal life again. It will be nice to walk down the street without people staring at me. Every day there's a dozen of interested fans at my front door; it's getting too much. I'm getting a bit fed up with having to tell the same story twenty times a day to people I don't know at all, or having to listen to their stories. Monaco will be a better place for me to train also, in winter I often don't have the courage to go out in the bad weather, in the South training will be easier.
conditions finally great stage ticked won
The conditions were very difficult, but I had ticked off this stage and it's great to have finally won it.
bunch drop ends finishing italian sprint sure train
(Alejandro) Valverde is going to drop some bombs. And if it ends up finishing in a bunch sprint I'm not sure Petacchi will get his Italian train going,
eventually kept line past wheel
Alejandro started to go for the line about 300 meters out and I just kept on his wheel and eventually managed to get past him.