Video: Boonen getting back up to speed at the Tour of California

Tom Boonen's (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) role this week at the Tour of California is to help teammate Mark Cavendish to stage victories. Like teammate, Niki Terpstra, Boonen's last race was Paris-Roubaix which capped off a busy Classics campaign and after enjoying a short rest he is now back racing.

At the 2.HC race, Boonen will have a chance on stage five to Santa Barbara although his objective for the week is to build back up to top form and get some racing miles in his legs.

The 33-year-old's main targets this year are a second rainbow jersey to go with the one he won in 2005 and a third Belgian national championships win. The parcours of the Spanish world championships suit Boonen's characteristics as he explains.

This year's Tour de France includes nine section of pavé on stage five which may see Boonen back at the race although as he says, the team is "still talking about" whether he will line up for the Grand Depart in Yorkshire.

In 2007 Boonen won the points classification and although he started the 2009 and 2011 editions of the race, he has not finished the grand tour since talking home the green jersey.

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