Tom Boonen just can't catch a break in 2010. Even with the latter half of the season pretty much a wash, the bad luck just keeps right on knocking at Tommeke's front door. The latest unfortunate event is a cold that left the Mol native in bed in Monaco when he was supposed to be taking part in a ride in Belgium. The Belgian superstar was signed up to spend Sunday on a tourist ride put on by one of the QuickStep team's sponsors, Innergetic.
Boonen had originally planned to fly up from Monaco just for the event, the Innergetic Pijl, but when the day dawned, there was no Boonen.
The promise of the 2009 Belgian national champion and Spring Classics great brought many cyclists to the start Sunday morning in Tielt.
One man was left in the unsavory position of notifying the collected masses of the bad news: QuickStep manager, Patrick Lefevere.
"At 7.35 in the morning, I received a text message from Tom saying that he has a cold, and he's in bed. Do not shoot me, because I am only the messenger," said Lefevere.
Later, speaking with Het Laatste Nieuws, Lefevere could only shrug his shoulders: "It is unfortunate for the organizers, but sick is sick. I definitely want to emphasize that Tom was going to come. He had reserves his own flight from Monaco for it."
A week and a half ago, the plan was for Boonen to return to racing at the Circuit Franco-Belge with an eye on Paris-Tours soon after that. Hopefully, this latest setback should not lay waste to those plans.