After sweeping through the Tour of Qatar, “Tornado” Tom Boonen is setting his sights on the Tour of California.

The 27-year-old said he’d be happy with a stage victory or two in his California adventure, because from here to April, it’s all about the spring classics.

“I wanted to race in California to do something different. Every year for the last five years I’ve done the same races. That’s not why I started racing to always do the same races year after year,” Boonen told VeloNews in a break last week in Qatar. “California sounds good. Last year, (Paolo) Bettini went to check it out. He told me it was good racing, good organization, good hotels.”

Boonen and Co. will fly to California on Sunday and spend the rest of the week recovering from the long trip and scouting out some of the key stages during training rides.

Boonen’s charismatic presence at the third California tour is sure to be one of the top draws for fans and journalists.

It’s not the first time Boonen has raced in the United States. He hit American shores as an amateur and again as a first-year pro with U.S. Postal Service in 2002, racing in the Redlands Classic and Sea Otter as well as Philly week.

If his dominant performance in Qatar is in any indication – with three stage victories, the team time trial and his second overall title in three years – Boonen should be flying.

Boonen says he’s in top form following a long break that saw him end his season relatively early in 2007 after skipping out on the world championships.

He insists his priority will be honing his form in time for a run at the spring classics.

“If I can win a stage, that’s great, but everything from now to Milan-San Remo is preparing for the classics,” he said. “Winning is always nice. Whether it’s here in Qatar or Paris-Nice or California, it’s always important to win a stage. The first three or four stage races are preparing for the spring classics.”

Boonen comes into the 2008 motivated to regain his place as the king of the classics.

Last year, despite some early wins at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Dwars door Vlaanderen and E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, he went oh-for-four in the major classics.

He’s hoping to change that with a first-ever win at Milan-San Remo, where he finished a career-best third last year.

“I’ve been looking forward to winning Milan-San Remo every year since I’ve turned pro. I’ve made it an objective,” he said. “Last year I was close and now I will be there for the fourth year to be in the final, so maybe now I have more experience and I will have a little bit of good luck and I can win.”

Boonen admitted that it’s challenging to maintain peak fitness from San Remo, in late March, through Paris-Roubaix, in mid-April. Peaking too soon or too late foils the best-laid plans.

“I think you have to be 100-percent at Milan-San Remo to win. I’ve been trying to be at peak form from San Remo through Flanders and Roubaix. I know from experience, that after Roubaix, it’s finished. If you peak too early, even by a week, then it’s finished for Roubaix. It’s all about timing,” he said. “It’s the most important week of the season. It’s the most prestigious and the hardest races to win. To win makes it even more beautiful.”

After two brilliant classic campaigns, with back-to-back Flanders and the rare Flanders-Roubaix double during the 2005-06 seasons, Boonen fell back to earth last year.

Boonen admits he feels the pressure to win but discounts suggestions that he had lost his drive last year.

“It wasn’t like I wasn’t motivated last year. I had some bad luck. I crashed in Flanders. In Roubaix, the weather was too good, and there was a big group for a long time. It was a strange classics week last year,” he said. “That’s the thing with the one-day races, you can prepare yourself for five months, but if you have a little bit of bad luck, then it’s all over. A puncture or a crash, not even a serious one, and it can ruin everything and you have to wait another year.”

More than anything, Boonen is hoping to see a return to sloppy, wet and cold weather typical of Belgian and northern France.

“It was summer last year!” he concluded. “I would love to see some classics weather.”

After the classics, he’ll target the Tour de France and another run at the green jersey, skip the Beijing Summer Olympic Games (despite alluding to a run at the team pursuit on the track) and reload for the 2008 road world championships, with a likely detour through the Vuelta a España.

But first come the classics and Boonen has some scores to settle.