Boonen's near-miss

Tom Boonen has revealed that he almost rode himself out of the Ruta del Sol before it even started when he crashed into a team-mate during a training ride.

"It was a silly incident, but then that's almost always the way," Boonen told sportwereld.be. "As we stopped for a traffic light I looked over my shoulder and tapped Nick Nuyens' rear wheel."

Boonen landed heavily on his right shoulder and after the fall, "it didn't look right. I had to bang it to get everything back into place. A small dislocation, yes. At first I thought my arm was broken, but fortunately it doesn't seem to be that bad. According to the doctors there is no fracture or tear, but the pain in my muscles indicates a bad sprain. If that's all and I can finish [the Ruta del Sol] I have nothing to grumble about."