Quick Step’s Tom Boonen continues to be dogged by problems with his left knee, deciding to miss out on the final stage time trial of the Tour de Suisse yesterday. The Belgian champion sat out the race despite declaring the day before that he was fit enough and happy to ride the 26.9km course.
Boonen’s problem emanates from the crash that brought down him and US champion Geroge Hincapie (BMC Racing), among many others, in the final kilometre of the first stage of the Tour of California. He had recovered well but it was further aggravated by the crash at the end of the Tour de Suisse stage 4, when he was unable to avoid the prostrate body of Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia), who was blamed for the incident.
The unusually cold and wet weather in Switzerland this month has also contributed to his problem.
“My knee is not right,” said Boonen to the Belgian media. “Initially I didn’t have too many problems with it after my falls in the Tours of California and Switzerland, but with the bad weather I now have a bit of tendonitis.”
Having missed the end of the Swiss tour, he is travelling back to Belgium to receive treatment on the knee in order to be ready for the defence of his driekleur jersey at the weekend and the Tour de France that starts the weekend after.
“The condition is good, but I undergo an ultrasound on Monday,” he explained.
“A few days rest and some anti-inflammatory drugs will prevent it from getting worse,” said team director Rik Verbrugghe on Sporza. “Halle-Ingooigem [a Belgian race on Wednesday] is perhaps too early, but the Belgian championships and the Tour are not in danger.