Tarik Saleh has a smart post about Tommke’s problems, and it does seem that perhaps Boonen is headed down the same dark path as Marco Pantani. It seems that no matter what Lance Armstrong twitters about him, Boonen will be without his team for the rest of the year, as Quick Step doesn’t interested in giving their star another chance. I will be curious to see what the authorities in Belgium do with this, as they gave Boonen a second chance last year, claiming that the embarrassment was punishment enough. No doubt Silence-Lotto will be watching all this with interest, however–I’m sure that cocaine addiction or not, they would like to give Boonen another chance, especially since it could be sticking it to their rivals.

Posted on 10 May 2009