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Tom Boonen looks to be ready for the upcoming Classics. Boonen is always in contention for winning no matter what time of year it is, but his money is made in early April. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are Boonen’s bread and butter races, so he needs to be on form and ready. This is why the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen win is important. E3 Prijs Vlaanderen (say that quickly) is an important appetizer race for the action that is to come in the next few weeks.
Fabian Cancellara showed very good form, but just was beat by the sprint of Boonen. No problem since Cancellara basically rode everyone off his wheel in Paris-Roubaix last year and looks like he can do the same again this year.
Cancellara actually thought he had a chance against Boonen in te sprint as he told cyclingnews.
The Time Trial World Champion was expected to launch an attack during the final kilometres but he waited for the sprint. “I wanted to play my cards in a sprint because I noticed Boonen wasn’t pedalling like normal, we’ve known each other since 1998 so you can see if something’s different.
This was true as Boonen reported that he was suffering from cramps which he attributed to not drinking enough during the race.
Manuel Quinzato put in some good attacks to try and break free of the group of four which everyone knew would come down to a Boonen win. Quinzato is on good form lately as he put in a powerful attack in Milan SanRemo to setup a counter for teammate Franco Pellizotti.
This race is part of a very full weekend of racing that also includes the Criterium International and the finish of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali.