Devolder to concentrate on Spring Classics, skip the Tour

Stijn Devolder will concentrate on the Spring Classics in 2010, and will not ride the Tour de France. His main goal will be the first two weeks in April, starting with the Ronde van Vlaanderen and ending with Paris-Roubaix, and for the first time in several years, he will not end his spring season in Roubaix.

The Quick Step rider has won the Ronde van Vlaanderen the last two years, and he would like to not only repeat it but add Paris-Roubaix to his palmares. “The fortnight in April with Paris-Roubaix and the Ronde remains the most important,” he told Het Niuewsblad. “But I will also also take on both the Brabantse Pijl and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.”

Since joining Quick Step in 2008, the 30-year-old has not ridden any more Spring Classics after Paris-Roubaix, although he had done so earlier in his career.

Devolder also repeated that he would not ride the Tour de France this year. “My experiences over the past two years have been too bad,” he said. “I will just ride the Vuelta.” In 2008, the Belgian dropped out of the Tour during the 15th stage, and this year he finished the Tour as 81st.