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
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 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.
percent
I'm not a 100 percent satisfied, but let's say 98 percent,
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.
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.
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.
chain final fine great job mates nearly suddenly team
Everything was fine before the final sprint. My team mates had done a great job and suddenly my chain slipped, I nearly went over and crashed.
crash days home instead mind occupy rather ride risking stay three train
The Three Days are reputed to be dangerous, it's true, but I'd rather ride than stay at home and dawdle. I could train instead of risking a crash racing, but I'd rather occupy my mind in competition.
base race time
I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose.
affect crashed hurt
I crashed and it hurt a bit, but it did not affect the sprint. I was on the left, he was on the right.
belgium lap last members several team
On the last lap it was very important that several members of the Belgium team were always up at the front,
dominate feeling remaining stages
I have a feeling I can go on do well the remaining stages as well. With my team's support, I think I can dominate this Tour.
allowing call credit dream goes good supports team
The credit goes to my team-mates for allowing me to have a good day in the stage. My team is what you call a dream team. Each one of us supports the other fully.
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.