No Tour de France for Tom Boonen

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Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Tom Boonen has confirmed that he won’t be part of the Omega Pharma-QuickStep team for the Tour de France, saying he will instead ride the Vuelta a Espana and target the world road race championships.

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The Omega Pharma-QuickStep team is expected to be built around sprinter Mark Cavendish, who is targeting the opening stage to Harrogate, while Michal Kwiatkowski will target a good overall placing and Tony Martin the time trial.

"I won't be at the Tour. The team doesn't need me for the Tour and I hope to have a good end of season," Boonen told several Belgian media outlets at the Tour de Suisse.

"My love for the Tour hasn't faded but if I ride the Tour de France, I can say goodbye to the rest of the season."

Boonen will target the Belgian national championships and then take a break in July before riding the Eneco Tour (August 11-17), the Vuelta a Espana (August 23-September 14) and the world road race championships in Ponferrada, Spain (September 28).

Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).