Hello, this year Tom Boonen started racing earlier, in January, in a 6 or 7 days stage race and then moved on to Qatar for his usual spring classics build up. It seems that for the classics the guys need a tighter and more intense block of races and harder training rides. Grand tour candidates take it more easy and do less all-out racing during the season. Philippe Gilbert is however a rare mix of top one day performance and top shape keeper during the season,
