Newly-crowned world road race champion Tom Boonen will not race again this year because he needs stomach surgery.
Quick Step team spokesman Alessandro Tegner confirmed: "Tom will have surgery in Herenthals Hospital in Belgium on his abdomen as a follow up to his surgery of last year. He will not race again this year."
"He should be okay within a few days, but we don't want to take any chances."
The 24-year-old had an operation last October to correct a congenital disorder of his intestine.
Boonen topped a remarkable season by winning the road race at the world championship in Madrid on Sunday.
He became the first rider to be world champion and win both the Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders in the same season and is also the youngest to win the rainbow jersey since Spain's Oscar Freire in 1996.
