What is Tom Boonen still able to achieve? "Boonen will not be able to choose", says Etixx-QuickStep doctor Van Mol who predicts a great future for world champion Michal Kwiatkowski. "He can win all the classics."

This year Tom Boonen goes into his 14th season as a professional rider. Can he repeat his exceptional 2012 after two sluggish years?

"In the spring races, Boonen will always be there. And he will win," Yvan Van Mol, the experienced team doctor at Etixx-Quick Step, told Sporza.

"We have to be honest: in the races where he has to combine explosiveness with climbing, he will have a hard time. That time has passed. We saw that at the Worlds.

"He had prepared fantastically and saved energy to perfection and yet he came up short in the final lap. We have to accept that. He has to concentrate on the races that that are within his capabilities.

"From the Omloop up until Paris-Roubaix, he must try to win. He will not be able to choose. During that time, he has to win the races that he can."

Next season Tom Boonen hopes to end his career with a great performance at the World Championships in Qatar.

"If he can play a role in the classics this year, he will do another year. Otherwise, I do not think he is will do an extra year," van Mol said.

Will it be possible for Boonen to win the Worlds in 2016? "We have to wait and see.  At the Tour of Qatar in February, it is 23 degrees out there, but in September it will be 38 degrees. Then you get a totally different race.

"But in a echelons, he has a chance like he has in the spring. And the course is completely different from Ponferrada last year."

With world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, Etixx-Quick-Step will have an even more beautiful year. Can the 24-year-old Pole win the Tour de France?

"That will be very difficult," Van Mol said. "To do that, he weighs three or four kilos too much. With the same power, he will always be going slower up the climbs than his rivals. He's a little too muscular compared to the pure climbers. He can go for stage wins and the green jersey.

"Now the one-day races are the priority for Kwiatkowski. He can all win of them. We have to be very careful with him. We should head not let bring him down by focusing too much on the stage race. I think he should try to build a great palmares in the races that suit him the best: the classics."