Tom Boonen has spoken to PEZ Cycling about how cycling has changed from when he first entered the sport to what its like now, and how his love for the sport has never diminished.

“I’ve already said a few times today that the only thing you can do is to prepare well for the season. You know you have to do whatever is possible; train well, take care of your body, then sometimes you are lucky and healthy and everything stays good and you win straight away and then keep winning. Sometimes you are unlucky and nothing goes the way you want it to be, but then there is always next year. I think if you look back I have 14 seasons now as a professional and I have seen the good side and I have seen the bad side, but I’m still eager to win and happy to ride my bike.”

Boonen isn’t sure if it will be down to himself and Fabian Cancellara to fight it out for Flanders and Roubaix, but he says his tests are very good and that gives the 34 year old Etixx-Quick Step rider confidence heading into the Classics campaign next weekend.

“I don’t know, it’s still early to say. At this point my tests are very good, like in the good years. I think if I can stay healthy and I don’t have too much bad luck in the coming weeks, then for sure, I will be on my good level again. I just hope it’s enough; it’s been enough for a while, so I hope it’s still enough. There are guys like Sagan are there and other guys who have been knocking on the door for the last few years. They haven’t won a big one yet, but they are always there so they will win one time. So of course they are getting closer.”

Boonen says the Tour of Flanders course is fine as it is now with the changes and that the organizers mustn’t change it too much in the next few editions.

“I think it is necessary because the changes they made three years ago was like a big revolution going on in Belgium. What people tend to forget that in five or six years people will talk about the Tour of Flanders as the race it is right now, they will forget it was in Ninove before. We have already been to check the parcours out, the day after Christmas, and it’s exactly the same parcours, just the two climbs. Berendries is there because last year there were road works and now the road is open again, so it is just like it was in the past and the Taaienberg isn’t really a hard climb. The final stays exactly the same and I hope it stays the same for many more years to come.”

Ten years on from winning the Worlds in Madrid in 2005, Boonen is aiming at taking his second Rainbow Jersey in Richmond this year. He says that from what he has seen of the course, it really suits the Classics riders.

“I have only seen it on video, but I think it’s a parcours that really suits the classics guys. It has a short, steep cobbles stones section, then there is a longer climb, the sort of climb that will get your legs empty to the end of the race so maybe you can make a difference on the cobble stones. For the first time in many years I don’t think we will go there to check the parcours out before. But then again we never did it in the past and you are always here a week before and that is enough time. The main thing is to prepare well for it and try to be at your best level. It is a parcours that I think will really suit me.”