Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma – Quickstep)
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Reconnaissance a waste of time for experienced Boonen
After his Omega Pharma – Quick Step team dominated the first part of the season with 25 wins, manager Patrick Lefevre is heading into the legendary one day Classic, Paris-Roubaix, with the race’s top favorite. The team’s leader for the Hell of the North race is Tom Boonen, a triple winner of the French event and six-time podium finisher.
Last Sunday’s win in the Tour of Flanders has already made Boonen’s Spring Classics season a success, but during Friday’s press conference, it was clear he hoped for even more. With a fourth win in Paris-Roubaix, he would join Roger De Vlaeminck as record holder and would be the first to do the Flanders-Roubaix double twice.
“The first big goal was achieved, but I’m not more or less motivated for any of these two races. It would be stupid not to think that winning a fourth Roubaix is special. It’s not a small thing, and equaling a record from Roger has to be something special,” Boonen said.
Living the life of a favorite
After the crash by Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan) during the Tour of Flanders, which ruled the strong Swiss contender out for participation at Paris-Roubaix, it’s clear that all eyes will be pointed at the 31-year-old Belgian, but Boonen isn’t bother about that.
“The least important thing is to be a favorite. The only thing that matters is to get a good result on Sunday. Things are looking good. I’ve already had a lot of luck in this race although last year was in high contrast with that. I know this race extremely well and I simply have to be in the mix for the win. These two races were my major goals and all the other races don’t matter anymore. The win in Flanders was pleasing, but it did make it harder to stay relaxed ahead of this one with all these press conferences, etc.,” Boonen said, noting that it would be hard to have more pressure put upon him than there is right now.
His role as the favorite will make the job of his team that much harder. “It’s easier to control the
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