Image 1 of 7 Tom Boonen sprints to victory at the Tour of Flanders (Image credit: AFP) Image 2 of 7 Mark Cavendish and Tom Boonen at the Omega Pharma-Quick Step launch where after introductions they took to the velodrome. (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 3 of 7 Belgian road champion Tom Boonen takes to the track during Omega Pharma-Quick Step's team launch. (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 4 of 7 Tom Boonen is hoping to return to the Tour de France in 2013 (Image credit: Photopress.be) Image 5 of 7 Belgian champion Tom Boonen won Paris-Brussels. (Image credit: AFP) Image 6 of 7 Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) notched another win in the Belgium Road Championships (Image credit: AFP) Image 7 of 7 Niki Terpstra leads Tom Boonen on the penultimate ascent of the Paterberg. The next time, Boonen was part of a three-up move, from which he'd capture his third victory at Vlaanderens Mooiste (Image credit: Jered Gruber)

Tom Boonen was happy to finally make his season debut at the Tour of Oman on Monday after a difficult winter and his recent spell in hospital after an infection in his elbow.





"I was in hospital for a week and that's only two weeks ago, so it's not long ago but my week of training felt good. Of course it (my form) is not like it was before but we'll see. There's still seven weeks to go (until the Tour of Flanders), that's a lot of time but it isn’t too. I did a lot of training before and was really good already, so I hope there's enough to buffer the illness."