Intro:

Tom Boonen chats to SNTV ahead of men's road race at Baku 2015.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist:

"I think the most demanding part of the race will be the cobblestone section, not bucks it's that hard but because it's really narrow, you go in there, there's a few technical corners, then a descent at the cobblestones, so everything is going to be lined up, and there's going to be gaps everywhere, then straight away we have a hard left corner, where it goes uphill again, and that will be the thing where the race explodes, because lap after lap you're going to have this lined up peloton, with gaps, so I think that will be the hardest part of the race."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist:

"I don't know. Today it wasn't really windy, so I don't know if the wind really affects you in the city, because the complete circuit is almost (all) in the city, so we don't have any open fields, so the wind won't really play that much. I don't really have an idea of how the wind will be in the city."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist:

(on whether his friend Niki Terpstra of the Netherlands is the man he has to beat to win gold)

"I hope not, I mean I hope we will get second and first, but I think there is going to be some other guys, I mean the difference in the competitors is high. There are some really good guys, there are some guys that are having here their first big events, so it's going to be a strange race, but there's also (Russia's Ilnur) Zakarin, there's (Julian) Alaphilippe, there's a few guys that can go up a climb very fast, so the good thing for us is that everybody is going to be interested to stay together as long as possible, (until the) last, second last lap. So the first part of the race will be hard, trying to make that first shifting, then the last part is going to be hard again. But then hopefully we can keep the gap small, get back in the last six or seven in case it's a really fast descent, and then try to finish it off. But the hardest thing of the race is going to be the heat. Today you really felt it - there's not much air in the city - and it really drops on you, covers you like a blanket. So the hardest thing of the race is going to be the heat."