Tom Boonen full of confidence after Rund um Köln victory
Belgian now looking ahead to European Games and n♐ational championships





168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) is happy with his condition after a two-and-a-half-weekౠ period in which he has won his first two races of the season.
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Video: Tom Booneꦆn racing ♐his first Giro d'Italia
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:🔴Boonen has no am🦹bition to leave Etixx-QuickStep
Boonen tar♎geting overall win at Baloise Belgium Tour
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Balo🌼ise Belgium Tour: Boonen wins in Knokke-Heist
The Belgian pulled out of the Giro d’Italia in May after the 13th stage and headed over to the Tour of Belgium, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:where he won the second stage and the points jersey. He backed that up on Sunday with a victory at the testing one-day Run🦋d um Köln😼 in Germany, winning after being in the five-rider break that decided race.
"I am of course happy about this victory," said Boone🌸n in a statement from the Etixx-QuickStep team. "There isn't ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚoften a chance to ride in Germany, so it's great to win there when I have the opportunity."
Boonen was the fastest out of a five-man group that remained from an original 23-rider breakaway that shaped the 99th edition of the race. The group maintained a decent advantage by the time they hit the five short finishing laps in Cologne and🐻 Boonen had teammate Nikolas Maes with him, who helped him beat Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon18).
"It was a nice ꦏrace," said the 34-year-old Belgian. "The first part was really up-and-down, left-and-right. There were steep and narrow roads, so it was a quite demanding parcours. On the longest climb of the day Linus Gerdemann set a hard pace. The peloton exploded and we ended up with more than 20 guys ahead after this climb."
"Then we really went full gas and lost a few guys again. Then I eventually attacked, but I was followed by Gerdemann, Nikolas, and three other guys. We worked really well together, full speed, because the peloto♍n was always chasing hard behind. When we entered into the local laps we had about a minute gap, so we played a little bit with the tactics. Nikolas and I tried to keep everybody together for the final sprint. Nikolas did a great job and I finished off the day's work by winning the race."
The victory sees Boonen bring his season back on track after the cruel setback he suffered at Paris-Nice in March, when a dislocated shoulde🐽r ruled him ou☂t of his beloved spring Classics. He returned to racing at the Tour of Turkey at the end of April, where he helped Mark Cavendish to three stage wins,👍 before making his Giro debut. Now he his back to winning ways and is full of confidence ahead of his next two major objectives: the European Games road race in Baku and the Belgian national championships.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to y🐻our inbox!
"I am quite satisfied with my condition. After the Baloise Belgium Tour I was tired and it took me a few days to recover. But in the last few days I did some good training, which I probably needed those days after the Giro and Belgium Tour," Boonen𓃲 said.
"So I am looking to the next objectives with optimism. The next race will be the European Games in Baku. Let's see how the parcours will be. I hope to do a good race, and of course the Nationals at the end of the June ꦇare also among my goals. We will see what I can do in the next races."