In May Tom Boonen said that he might never ride the Tour de France again. After nearly half of a year going past his statement seems to be outdated, as the classic specialist claims to be eager to participate in La Grande Boucle.

"I started to really miss the Tour . Or rather, the team , the internal atmosphere, fighting together for a common goal," Boonen said in The Latest News .

"It's not that I loathe that price. I really do keep beautiful memories of my six appearances, "he says about his love-hate relationship with the Tour.

"Six victories, wearing yellow jersey for four days , the green jersey in 2007,” Boonen enumerates his sweetest memories of the Tour de France

Thanks to the presence of Mark Cavendish in Omega Pharma – Quick Step roster, the pressure for stage victories is no longer with Boonen .

"They will not ask me how many stages I 'm going to win . Here we have Cavendish for such matter . But those cobbles on the road to Arenberg might well be something for me. The Grand Départ in Yorkshire is not to my liking . I won’t be chasing every possible opportunity anymore . But if it's been really tough and everyone is broken, I would do it anyway . Then even Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel are not safe. I am really looking forward to it.”

While cobbled roads on the route to Arenberg seem to be one of the greatest concerns for the Tour main GC contenders, Omega Pharma – Quick Step has plenty of specialists to carry their leader safely through numerous obstacles. The right question is: who’s their leader going to be?

If Brian Holm’s twitter exclamations could be trusted, Rigoberto Uran still stands as Omega’s first choice for the Tour leadership, while Mark Cavendish alongside Tom Boonen should prepare himself to “fight together for a common goal”…

“Comedian Cav will stop laughing when he realize Uran Uran is sole OPQS leader TdF 2014. Get some bloody bottels!!!” Holm wrote during Tour de France 2014 route presentation

However, probably it’s better to wait for more official information on this subject.