At the Omega Pharma-Quick Step press conference Friday afternoon Tom Boonen appeared relaxed and in complete control, the burden of expectations outwardly vanished from the Belgian’s shoulders.

During the 2012 season Boonen won just about everything on the cobbled streets of Belgium, from E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem to De Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) and Paris-Roubaix. This year, he sustained an elbow injury that became contaminated during the winter, and a crash at Gent-Wevelgem that eventually forced him to leave the race.

Recently Boonen displayed some level of form at VDK Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde (Three Days of De Panne) this week, labouring to hold the race together for teammates Mark Cavendish and Sylvain Chavanel, but he abandoned before its final day to recover for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. It was hardly an ideal build-up, but Boonen isn’t counting himself - or his team - out of De Ronde.

"It's not the same as it was last year, but it's not looking that bad either," Boonen said of his condition as reported on the team website. "During the circumstances I think the team and I made a lot of progression the last few weeks. We will see on Sunday if it was enough and if it was on time to get a result in the race, but I did the maximum possible to get here and I can't expect anything more. I think after last year this is really not a bad circumstance. If I had the same level as last year it would be very hard to carry the race. Now it's a little bit different, but I don't think I will get any freedom if I try to escape in the final. I'm not in my best condition, but anything is possible. I've won races with less condition than this."

Speaking about his most dangerous rivals, Boonen said of a certain Swiss rider and the Slovak tipped by many as the winner on Sunday, "Cancellara is in a good shape, so he'll be the guy to beat along with Sagan and Team Sky of course. Don't forget them they also have a very strong team. But other guys, maybe they will able to get more freedom than we have, so they are dangerous teams as well.”

“Nobody is unstoppable," Boonen said of Peter Sagan's recent success. "It only seems like that. Of course Sagan is a very dangerous guy to have with you in the final. He's fast at the finish line. It's nearly impossible to drop him on the last two climbs, the Kwaremont or the Paterberg. He's probably the guy who can climb the Paterberg the fastest, but after the Paterberg there is still 13km to go. We don't have the big favourites. We have a lot of strong riders. I think it's important to keep the team together and be smart. Don't try to be the strongest. Try to be the smartest."

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