Tom Boonen eyeing the 2012 UCI Road World Championships to score a perfect season
Tom Boonen of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step is all set for the UCI Road World Championships 2012.
The cyclist is enjoying a terrific season with almost a dozen victories in his bag throughout the year.
He is now looking towards the UCI Road World Championships as his next big goal and is a definite favourite to claim the rainbow jersey in Holland.
His victories in the first half of the season include two stages, the point’s classifications and an overall victory at the Tour of Qatar 2012.
Boonen finished first at the Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders, the Gent-Wevelgem, E3 Harelbeke and bagged stages at the Paris-Nice and the Tour de San Luis 2012.
The Belgian currently holds the third overall position after the UCI Elite Men World Tour ranking with a total number of 410 points in his back pocket.
Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky is leading the category with 601 points, while Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver is occupying the second position with 414 points.
He was currently seen in action at the World Ports Classics where Tom managed to claim the top position during the 201 kilometre stage 1 of the race.
Team Omega Pharma cyclist took a total time of 3 hours, 56 minutes and 57 seconds and secured the top podium position leaving behind Andre Greipel and Alexander Kristoff.
After his numerous heroic performances in the first half of the season, Boonen has been on the down side since June and it was his first victory since the Belgian National Championships held earlier.
"This is good for morale for the real preparation for the World Championships, which begins after this weekend," he told Het Nieuwsblad.
“I am happy with my form, especially considering the results and how I worked all day. I felt in the Tour of Denmark that it was right, but then lacked the result”.
“I recovered well and it does not look bad. Sunday I will ride in Leuven (the GP Jef Scherens, ed.) And then starts the specific preparation for Valkenburg. This victory is good for morale. I'm on schedule".
While most of the cyclists are riding the Vuelta a Espana to prepare for the World Championships, the 31-year-old decided against it and believes that the three-week race “would have been too much” for his legs.
Last time Boonen rode the Road World Championships without doing the Vuelta was back in 2006 and he regretted it after finishing ninth in the road race event.
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