Tom Boonen

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Tom Boonen
Personal information
Full name Tom Boonen
Nickname Tornado Tom
Date of birth October 15, 1980
Country Belgium
Team information
Current team Quick Step-Innergetic
Professional team(s)
2000-2002
2003-		 US Postal Service
Quick Step-Innergetic
Major wins
4 stages Tour de France

    Tom Boonen (born on October 15, 1980 in Mol, Belgium) is one of the world's best professional road bicycle racers and is the 2005 World Road Race Champion. He is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint. His personality and looks, combined with his successes, also turned him into Belgium's main male sports idol of the mid-2000s.

    Contents

    [edit] Career overview

    [edit] 2002

    At the start of 2002 Tom rode for the United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, and finished third in a muddy, rainy Paris-Roubaix. He was part of an early breakaway and continued to work for his team captain George Hincapie, even towards the end of the race. Fellow Flemish rider Johan Museeuw had escaped off the front of the race to his solo victory, and Hincapie crashed in a slippery section of the course, leaving Boonen to ride for himself.

    This remarkable third place in his first ever Paris-Roubaix compelled Museeuw - his childhood hero - to publicly declare him his natural successor.

    However, Tom was not completely happy at US Postal, claiming he did not get enough chances to ride for himself. Around October of that year, he announced he would leave the team, despite being under contract. This was a very unusual decision for a young racer like him, one that was greatly criticized by the team, including the Boss himself, Lance Armstrong.

    Quick.Step then offered him a place in their Belgian team starting in the 2003 season.

    [edit] 2003

    The 2003 season, however, did not go well for Boonen, who saw lacklustre performance due to fatigue. In this season Museeuw was the undisputed team leader for the spring classics campaign.

    [edit] 2004

    The 2004 season saw Boonen rise up to the challenge to win the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, the classic race Gent-Wevelgem and the Grote Scheldeprijs. In addition, he also won two stages of the Tour de France including the prestigious final stage in Paris, just like Johan Museeuw did years ago.

    [edit] 2005

    2005 saw Tom Boonen ascend clearly into the history books as one of the great cyclists of his generation. Winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, and finishing second in the Omloop "Het Volk" (behind teammate Nick Nuyens), he stamped his authority on the brutal cobbled Spring Classics.

    In his Ronde van Vlaanderen victory Boonen was considered the strongest sprinter in the final group of riders. However, instead of waiting for the final moment, he attacked a few kilometers from the finish to the surprise of other riders in the group, and stayed away for a solo victory. One of the other riders in the peloton, Erik Dekker, afterwards declared that he was "happy that he would not have to race against Boonen the next ten years, because [he] would have to race for second place". In his Paris-Roubaix victory, he entered the Roubaix velodrome in the leading trio, and waited until the last moment before launching a sprint that saw him beat American George Hincapie and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha.

    In the Tour de France, he won the second and the third stage. In this edition, Boonen claimed the green jersey after the second stage, however, he was forced to retire from the race after stage 11, after multiple crashes. The jersey was reliquished to Norwegian Thor Hushovd, who held on for the rest of the tour, becoming the eventual winner.

    On September 25 he became the twenty-first Belgian World Champion after the World Cycling Championships in Madrid. A seven-man breakaway was reeled in in the final straight by the group that he was in, before he powered home ahead of Alejandro Valverde. He is the first Belgian since Museeuw, in 1996, to don the rainbow jersey.

    Tom Boonen is the first cyclist in history to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, and the World Cycling Championship in one and the same season. With these victories he secured second place in the overall standings of the 2005 ProTour.

    Boonen preparing for a mountain stage in the 2006 Tour de France
    Enlarge
    Boonen preparing for a mountain stage in the 2006 Tour de France

    Boonen currently rides for Quick.Step-Innergetic and lived in Balen (Belgium) before moving to Monaco (end 2005). This move, disguised as "an escape from intrusive fans" was probably in reality to profit from the favourable Monaco tax system.

    At the end of the year Boonen won several awards: Kristallen Fiets (Crystal Bicycle), Vélo d'Or (Golden Bicycle), Trofee voor Sportverdienste (Trophy For Sporting Merit), Belgian Sportsman of the Year 2005 and Belgian Sports Personality of the Year.

    [edit] 2006

    In 2006, Boonen again had an incredible start of the season (see palmares), highlighted by winning the Ronde van Vlaanderen again.

    After the incredible start, Boonen diminished and had a somewhat disappointing Tour of Belgium. Before the start of the 2006 Tour de France, Boonen claimed that he considered himself the strongest and smartest sprinter. However, he did not win a stage in the first week and found himself outclassed by the speed of Robbie McEwen and the clever tactics of Freire. In spite of this, Boonen was able to claim the yellow jersey for the first time in his career, but soon lost it in the first time trial to time trial specialist Sergei Honchar.

    Boonen pulled out of the Tour de France during the 15th stage over 187km from Gap to l'Alpe d'Huez. According to the team manager, Boonen lost a lot of weight during the Tour and got a much needed rest period were he had to gain some weight again. Boonen is currently preparing himself to defend his world title. Boonen has stated that he thinks the parcours is suitable enough to do so successfully.

    An indication that Boonen is regaining his strength was the Eneco Tour of Benelux, in which he totally overclassed the other sprinters to take the victories of stage 1, 3 and 5. Boonen has stated that he indeed is getting stronger, however, in the World Cycling Championships, he was not as strong as hoped and lost his title to Quick Step-Innergetic teammate Paolo Bettini, finishing ninth.

    [edit] Palmares

    Olympic medal record
    World Championships
    Gold 2005 Madrid Elite Men's Road Race

    [edit] 2006

    Boonen signing in at Tarbes during the 2006 Tour de France
    Enlarge
    Boonen signing in at Tarbes during the 2006 Tour de France

    [edit] 2005

    • Tour de France (GT)
      • 1st, Stage 2, (Challans to Les Essarts)
      • 1st, Stage 3, (La Châtaigneraie to Tours)
    • 4th, Overall, Tour of Qatar (2.1)
      • 1st, Points Classification (Silver Jersey)
      • 1st, Stage 1
      • 1st, Stage 2
    • 10th, Overall, Tour de Picardie (2.2)
      • 1st, Stage 2
    • 1st, Ronde van Made, Criterium
    • 1st, Na Tour Broker Criterium
    • 1st, Acht van Chaam
    • 1st, Criterium Herentals
    • 1st, Derny Criterium Antwerpen

    [edit] 2004

    [edit] 2003

    [edit] 2002

    [edit] Lack of Rivals

    Though Boonen's current one-day dominance is unquestioned, his rise to prominence has come just after the retirement of several great classics riders, including Museeuw, Andrea Tafi, Andrei Tchmil and Franco Ballerini. This lack of proven winners among his rivals (Peter van Petegem and Paolo Bettini are the only active racers other than Boonen with more than a single victory in the classics) may have helped inflate Boonen's palmares somewhat, though as other younger riders (such as Fabian Cancellara and Filippo Pozzato and Valverde) make their mark, it will be easier to determine the true value of Boonen's victories.

    [edit] External links

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    Preceded by:
    Óscar Freire    		 World Road Racing Champion
    2005    		 Succeeded by:
    Paolo Bettini


    Preceded by:
    Stefan Everts    		 Belgian Sportsman of the Year
    2005    		 Succeeded by:
    Unknown


    Riders on Quick Step-Innergetic
    Serge Baguet | Paolo Bettini | Tom Boonen | Francesco Chicchi | Wilfried Cretskens | Steven De Jongh | Kevin De Weert | Addy Engels | Juan Manuel Gárate | José Antonio Garrido | Kevin Hulsmans | Servais Knaven | Nick Nuyens | Filippo Pozzato | Sébastien Rosseler | José Rujano | Ivan Santaromita | Leonardo Scarselli | Hubert Schwab | Bram Tankink | Matteo Tosatto | Guido Trenti | Jurgen Van De Walle | Kevin van Impe | Cédric Vasseur | Geert Verheyen | Davide Vigano | Wouter Weylandt | Remmert Wielinga
    Manager
    Patrick Lefévère
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/o/m/Tom_Boonen_9bb6.html"