Pride and revenge are on Tom Boonen’s agenda when the second stage of the Tour de France takes the peloton from Dunkirk to Ghent on Monday. The stage is expected to end in another bunch sprint and having been beaten into third by Robbie McEwen in Sunday’s first stage, the former world champion Boonen needs to shine in his home country.
It will, however, be a huge task for the Belgian, who was again left trailing by old rival McEwen in the last straight in Canterbury on Sunday.
Though he had a whole team to work for him, the Quick Step rider could not match the Australian’s power and crafty tactics. The usual suspects Oscar Freire and Thor Hushovd, second on Sunday, are also to be watched closely as a victorious breakaway looks extremely unlikely.
”This is basically a Flemish stage. The route takes in pieces of the courses used in races such as the Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Three Days of La Panne,” said Tour competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux.
”The profile is very flat and the route is mostly dead straight. It’s a stage for the sprinters.”
Pescheux believes Belgian pride will play a role in the stage victory.
He said: ”When thinking of a winner, you have to consider the Belgians.”
Boonen is then an obvious pick but McEwen lives in Parike, in the Belgian Flanders. – Reuters