Fabian Cancellara favourite for the Tour of Flanders, Tom Boonen
Despite his tremendous effort during the first quarter of the 2012 season, Tom Boonen has ruled Fabian Cancellara as favourite for the Tour of Flanders 2012.
Cancellara succeeded during the 2010 version of the Flanders and finished third in the most recent edition of the event.
The Swiss opened his 2012 winning account with a first place finish at the Strade Bianche.
He also grabbed the seventh stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico and claimed the second overall spot at the Milan-San Remo 2012.
Fabian joined Team Leopard Trek in 2011 and is now continuing his second consecutive season with the strong RadioShack-Nissan Trek squad.
He is training hard to ensure his peak form before the Tour of Flanders scheduled on April 1st, 2012.
It is the 8th biggest race of the season and is likely to have full attendance at the peloton.
On the other hand, Tom Boonen might have declared Fabian as the race favourite but the cyclist himself is at the peak of his form.
The Belgian has filled his bag with nine victories in the young season already including an overall victory at the Tour of Qatar 2012.
He has also grabbed a total number of four stage victories at the Tour of Qatar, the Tour de San Luis and the Paris-Nice 2012.
Tom finished second at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and claimed the first position at the 1st E3 Harelbeke and the Gent–Wevelgem.
While commenting at the Tour of Flanders Boonen noted, “I’ll certainly not say that I’ll be the man to beat because I think that’s Fabian. Cancellara and I are still 1 and 2”.
“He’s got some percentages over me”.
“This race didn’t influence that. Gent-Wevelgem is one of the races in the series but you can’t compare it with the Tour of Flanders.
“This week I’ve got to do more good training and then I’ll be ready on Sunday”.
The 2012 version of the Tour of Flanders features a total number of 17 hills include, Nokereberg, Taaienberg, Eikenberg, Molenberg, Rekelberg, Berendries, Valkenberg and Oude Kwaremont.
Cyclists will also go through the climbs of Paterberg, Koppenberg, Steenbeekdries, Nieuwe Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg, Hoogberg-Hotond, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg during the coming version of the race.
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