Former Belgian Classics great Tom Boonen has confirmed that he will be back in the E3 Saxo Classic with his old team Soudal-QuickStep on Friday, but his precise role remains uncertain.
Boonen won the E3 Saxo Classic no fewer than five times, making him the record holder for wins in a race often seen as a key warm-up and form guide for the Tour of Flanders.
This Friday, the 45-year-old told the Live Slow Ride Fast podcast that he will be present in the team car alongside former teammate, now sports director, Niki Terpstra, but without a precise role for now.
“I’m going to take a look. I saw Niki a few times this winter and I see that there really is a revival going on within the team,” Boonen said.
[Team CEO] "Jurgen Foré had also called me once asking if we could do something together, without attaching an official title to it yet. My first reaction was: ‘ But I don’t know anyone anymore.’
"I’m going to follow a few races now, just to see if I still have any connection with current cycling and if I feel anything for those guys. The team has had a lot of bad luck this year, but there are a number of good riders among them.”
Soudal's line-up for Friday is set to include former Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle and fellow cobbled Classics specialist Jasper Stuyven.
Boonen says he still has something of an emotional connection with his old team, but is uncertain if he would like a full role in cycling again and that he feels the sport has moved on since his time. More than a definitive commitment, Friday's trip in the team car, then, will be something of an experiment.
“I am not traumatized by racing, but I had had enough of it," he told the Live Slow Ride Fast podcast.
"In the final months of my career, I didn’t feel like it anymore. I still enjoyed racing and training, but the rest… It had all become so serious, too.”
Retired since 2017, Boonen's own life, he said, currently gave him enough to be satisfied already, making his decision about getting involved again in the sport one that he would need to meditate even more.
“I do what I want. I earn something from some things, but not from others," he concluded. "But that doesn't matter to me at all. I try to be happy in life, and I succeed.”
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