Tom Boonen is hoping for another shot at the road world championship title next month in Ponferrada, Spain, admitting that the Worlds is one of the aims that “keep me on the bike.”

The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider won the rainbow jersey in 2005 in Madrid and will be hoping for a repeat on Spanish soil. “I will have to be super but it’s not impossible,” he told Het Letste Nieuws. “However, I will not be top favourite. In 2005 in Madrid I was not and I took it anyway.”

While he would relish the opportunity to seek his own fortunes, Boonen declared himself ready to “help guys like Greg Van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert to go for the world title.”

Classics ambitions

A second spell in the rainbow jersey, though, is not his sole career goal, Boonen said, adding that another triumph in either the Tour of Flanders or in Paris-Roubaix would be high on his list of priorities as well.

“It would be nice, but unlike Fabian Cancellara, I already have one jersey. A fourth Tour of Flanders or a fifth Paris-Roubaix keeps me on the bike. Those are the reasons you do it.”

Currently Boonen is participating in the Eneco Tour and will take to the starting line at the Vuelta a España, where he won two stages in 2008. Now 33, Boonen will be seeking his luck in the few stages allocated to the sprinters in the Spanish Grand Tour, but he realizes he will be pretty much on his own as his team has other priorities.

“I will have to see what I can do myself in the sprints. I was hoping for some guys to support me, but I think the team will aim fully for Rigoberto Uran in GC,” he said.