The countdown continues apace. Nine days from the Tour of Flanders and 16 days from the final race of his professional career, Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) received the heartiest acclaim as the peloton gathered for the start of E3 Harelbeke on Friday. A five-time winner of the race, Boonen´s run of victories - 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012 - helped to establish E3 Harelbeke´s place as the essential dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders. As a token of gratitude, the organisation presented Boonen with a composite photograph to commemorate his record haul of victories on the signing-on podium. `If you start well here, then the whole series of Classics often goes well,` Boonen said. `You´ve got to know when to be in front and when to hang back.`ADVERTISEMENT A year ago, his Quick-Step team was wrong-footed by Michal Kwiatkowski and Peter Sagan´s winning move on the Karnemelkbeekstraat, and Boonen warned against a repeat. `A scenario like last year should be avoided. We had to chase and we didn´t get much support. We must try to anticipate. If riders do manage to get away, then we´ll have someone up the road.` Boonen is just one of many potential winners in a Quick-Step Floors line-up that includes Niki Terpstra, Zdenek Stybar, Matteo Trentin and Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert, who placed second at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday. After being side-lined for the cobbles in favour of Greg Van Avermaet at BMC, Gilbert is making a return to a full cobbled Classics programme at Quick-Step. `They´re races I love, but I´ve never done better than get a few placings. I won Het Nieuwsblad a couple of times but I´ve never won a big race in Flanders and I´d really like to change that,` Gilbert said. `I think the whole team is capable of winning, that´s our strength. We need to be on the front foot, on the offensive, and then the best will win.`
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