Boonen surprises himself in Belgium

"To be honest, I didn't think I'd be ready to try my luck in the final sprint," Tom Boonen said Sunday. But try he did -- and won the final stage of the Tour of Belgium, despite a serious training accident only two weeks earlier.

"This morning I asked my teammates to take me up to the sprint," he said on the team's website, qsi-cycling.com. "I wanted to force myself to my limit in order to see how things would go after breaking the big toe of my right foot and badly bruising my shin. I am still in a lot of pain and I am not at 100 percent but I'm still able to push myself to the limit.

The Tour of Belgium has given him the chance to get back into the racing rhythm, and he is "very satisfied" with his success. Now he is off to continue preparations for the next highlight of the season. "On Tuesday evening I'll be flying to Monte Carlo where I'll be training for the Dauphiné Libéré, which is another important step towards the Tour de France."