Despite crashing out of the Abu Dhabi Tour when he was in great shape, Tom Boonen had said that the end of his season has put him in a condition as good as it was in 2012, when he won all of the cobbled classics.

Boonen still views his season as a failure, despite winning a Belgium Tour stage, Eneco Tour stage and the Rund um Koln and Sparkassen Munsterland Giro one day races. The main reason for this is because he suffered a bad crash in Paris-Nice that forced him to miss the Classics, and he says that constitutes a failure for him.

“I’m not entirely happy with this year, because I had to miss out on the Classics,” Boonen told Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure. “Failure in the Classics means a failed year, even if I win some races.”

“But I’m finishing my season in good shape, and in some ways I wish 2015 wasn’t ending so soon, even if I’m very keen to build towards the next.”

Now he says that he is just as strong as before, the only difference is he takes less risks.

“Everybody asked me about whether I would retire after the crash, so that forced me to think about it,” he told La Derniere Heure. “But it’s not time yet. We’ve done tests, I’m not slower than before, and I’ve got stronger, I’ve got a faster acceleration, but I take fewer risks than when I was 22 or 23.”

Now he turns his attention tor recovery and getting ready for what he hopes is an uninterrupted Classics season, something the 34 year old hasn’t had since the magical year in 2012.