PARIS (AP) — The Quick Step team says former world champion Tom Boonen will miss the Tour de France next month due to tendinitis around his left kneecap.
The 29-year-old Belgian sprint specialist says he is “very sad” that he’ll miss the Tour and the Belgian national championship because of persistent pain from a crash injury during the Tour of California last month.
Boonen is one of Belgium’s best-known sports stars. The Tour de France crosses Belgium this year.
Boonen is one of the world’s best sprinters and classics riders. He has won a total of six Tour stages and in 2007 took home the green jersey awarded to the race’s best sprinter.
