Tom Boonen eyeing the Tour of Flanders as the next big goal of his 2012 season
Tom Boonen is enjoying a terrific season and has already filled his bag with a number of victories in the first quarter of the year.
His most recent win came during the Gent–Wevelgem as the Belgian out-sprinted Peter Sagan and Matti Breschel after a photo-finish.
Boonen’s current form is almost the same as his compatriot Philippe Gilbert’s last year performance.
Gilbert started off the season in the same fashion and took his performance to an even higher level as the year progressed.
Tom is now targeting the Tour of Flanders as the next big goal of his 2012 campaign. The event is scheduled on April 1st and is the 8th World Tour race of this year.
The 31-year-old has gained an immense amount of confidence after his recent victories.
The long list of his 2012 wins includes an overall victory at the Tour of Qatar, a point’s classifications victory along with two stages during the event.
Boonen also secured stages at the Tour de San Luis, the Paris-Nice and claimed the second overall position at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
His first place finishes at the E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem marked a perfect start for the Belgian to capitalise on the season ahead.
Team Quick-Step cyclist is well placed to complete his fantastic triple after the Gent-Wevelgem and E3 Harelbeke victory.
While commenting on his chances at the coming event he noted, “Winning is always nice. It’s important that I’ve got these two wins in the pocket”.
“These five, six races form the most important period of the season for me”.
“Everything I do is to be in shape for these races. Today was the most difficult race for me in the series to win but if you see I won it already three times it’s not that bad”.
“The three races which are left are all three important, especially Flanders and Roubaix”, he concluded.
The 96th edition of the Tour of Flanders is scheduled on April 1 and the cyclists will go through the gruelling 254.4 kilometre between Brugge and Oudenaarde.
The 2012 edition of the Belgian race features a number of changes in the course.
Two of the most famous hills, Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg have now been removed amongst many other changes to be implemented in the coming season.
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