Lars Boom’s final season at Astana was not the most joyous. The Dutchman spent much of the year demotivated and frustrated by his team. 

The cause was a demanding management which felt that Boom had not live up to expectations in the spring.

"We had a debriefing and my effort was obviously not good enough,” he told Omroep Brabant. “But that was not the case. If you have a painful body, muscles and joints, you cannot do anything. The staff disappointed me about this.”

In spite of a sixth place at the E3 and an eleventh place at the Tour of Flanders, Boom abandoned the other spring classics, except Milan-San Remo, and the performance of the Dutchman was not considered sufficient. As a result, the staff did not respect his racing program and even removed him from the Vuelta line-up. 

"If you cannot have a race schedule that you like, you lack the motivation to be good,” he said.

His second part of the season was less intense and Boom decided to go elsewhere. He finally signed a contract with LottoNL-Jumbo and will return to a structure in which he spent the majority of his career.

"The people who accompany me are close to me and that is important," he said.

His season will probably begin in Portugal at the Tour of Algarve. Then it is time for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Paris-Nice and the big spring classics until the Amstel Gold Race.