The Quick Step team says former world champion Tom Boonen will miss the Tour de France 2010 next month due to tendinitis around his left kneecap.

The 29-year-old Belgian sprint specialist says he is "very sad" that he'll miss the Tour de France and the Belgian national championship because of persistent pain from a crash injury during the Tour of California last month.

Boonen is one of Belgium's best-known sports stars. The Tour de France crosses Belgium this year.

Boonen has been one of the world's best sprinters and classics riders. He has won a total of six Tour de France stages and in 2007 took home the green jersey awarded to the race's best sprinter.

Tom Boonen's reputation suffered a blow when he tested positive for cocaine in a doping test conducted in 2009.