Tom Boonen

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Tom Boonen

Boonen at the 2005 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Tom Boonen
Nickname	Tommeke Tornado Tom Torpedo Tom
Date of birth	October 15, 1980 (1980-10-15) (age 27)
Country	Belgium
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	82 kg (180 lb/12.9 st)
Team information
Current team	Quick Step
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist Sprinter
Professional team(s)
2002 2003–	US Postal Service Quick Step
Major wins
World Cycling Champion (2005) Tour de France, 6 stages Tour de France, points jersey (2007) Paris-Roubaix (2005, 2008) Ronde van Vlaanderen (2005, 2006) Gent-Wevelgem (2004)
Infobox last updated on:
2008-04-13

Tom Boonen (born on October 15, 1980 in Mol, Belgium) is a professional road bicycle racer 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 1 Career overview 1.1 2005 - Winning Ronde, Roubaix and Worlds 1.2 2006 Season 1.3 2007 Season 1.4 2008 Season 2 Personal life 3 Palmares 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Career overview

At the start of 2002 Boonen rode for the US Postal Service team, finishing third in Paris-Roubaix after an early breakaway. Fellow Flemish rider Johan Museeuw had escaped off the front of the race to a solo victory, and team captain George Hincapie crashed in a slippery section of the course leaving Boonen to ride for himself. Boonen's performance in the race compelled Museeuw - his childhood hero - to publicly declare Boonen his natural successor.^[1]

However, Boonen was not completely happy at US Postal, claiming he did not get enough chances to ride for himself. Towards the end of the year he announced he would leave the team, despite being under contract, and joined Quick Step-Davitamon at the start of 2003.^[2] The 2003 season, however, did not go well for Boonen, who saw lacklustre performance due to fatigue and a knee injury. In this season Museeuw was the undisputed team leader for the spring classics campaign.

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 Museeuw did years ago.

[edit] 2005 - Winning Ronde, Roubaix and Worlds

2005 was the year in which Boonen firmly established himself as a competitor on the world stage. 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 cobbled Spring Classics. Boonen also became the first cyclist in history to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, and the World Cycling Championship in the same season.

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 "I'm happy that I am near the end of my career, since with a cyclist like Boonen the spring classics will be rather boring the coming years".^[3] 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 six-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 wear the rainbow jersey. With these victories he secured second place in the overall standings of the 2005 UCI ProTour.

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 and Belgian Sports Personality of the Year.

[edit] 2006 Season

In 2006, Boonen again had an incredible start of the season, 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.^{[neutrality disputed]} 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.

Unable to reach the summit of the Col du Lautaret, Boonen abandoned the Tour de France during the 15th stage (187km) from Gap to l'Alpe d'Huez unable to reach the Col du Lautaret. According to the team manager, Boonen lost a lot of weight during the Tour and got a much needed rest period where he had to gain some weight again.

Boonen regained his strength at the Eneco Tour of Benelux, in which he won three stages. He was unable to defend his world title at the UCI Road World Championships, held on a circuit that was less flat than in Madrid 2005. He lost his title to Quick Step-Innergetic teammate Paolo Bettini, finishing ninth.

[edit] 2007 Season

In his 2007 season, Boonen went off to a great start again by winning five stages at the Tour of Qatar and finishing second overall after teammate Wilfried Cretskens. He later won several local Flemish races like Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, but failed to win any classics. His best effort in that respect was a 3rd place in Milan-Sanremo, resulting in an overall slightly disappointing spring season.

Next Boonen took part in the Tour de France. In the absence of main rival Alessandro Petacchi, and an early injury of Robbie McEwen, he met the expectations by winning two stages (stages 6 and 12), and winning the Maillot vert competition. It was the first Belgian green jersey since Eddy Planckaert's in 1988.

[edit] 2008 Season

Boonen began his 2008 season by winning four stages and the overall and points classifications in the Tour of Qatar. In the Ronde van Vlaanderen, his first main goal of the season, he showed good form but took on a defensive role when his teammate Stijn Devolder escaped and subsequently won. The week after, he outsprinted Fabian Cancellara and Alessandro Ballan in the final 500m to win the Paris-Roubaix. On June 10, 2008, several sources claimed that Boonen was negotiating with Bouygues Télécom about a contract, which sporting director Jean-René Bernaudeau confirmed. The move to Bouygues would involve two or three riders going with him, with the names of Wilfried Cretskens and Kevin Hulsmans frequently named ^[4]. On that same day though, it was revealed that Boonen had tested positive for cocaine in a test on May 26. Since this was outside competition, Boonen does not face sanctions by the UCI or WADA. During a press conference the day after, he offered his apologies and team manager Patrick Lefevere stated that, since these were considered difficulties of a private nature, team Quick Step maintained its confidence in him. Despite the absence of official sanctions, Boonen was immediately barred from the upcoming Tour of Switzerland and later from the Tour de France. ^[5][6]

[edit] Personal life

Boonen has been living in Monaco since late 2005.

[edit] Palmares

Medal record
Competitor for  Belgium
Road bicycle racing
World Championships
Gold	2005 Madrid	Elite Men's Road Race

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Quick.Step-Innergetic Cycling Team
• Criticism for lack of competitors
• Tom Boonen profile

Sporting positions
Preceded by Óscar Freire	World Road Racing Champion 2005	Succeeded by Paolo Bettini
Preceded by Magnus Bäckstedt	Winner of Paris-Roubaix 2005	Succeeded by Fabian Cancellara
Preceded by Stuart O'Grady	Winner of Paris-Roubaix 2008	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by Peter Van Petegem	Crystal Bicycle 2004–2006	Succeeded by Sven Nys
Preceded by Stefan Everts Stefan Everts	Belgian Sportsman of the Year 2005 2007	Succeeded by Stefan Everts Incumbent
Preceded by Kim Gevaert	Belgian Sports Personality of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Sven Nys
Preceded by Lance Armstrong	Vélo d'Or 2005	Succeeded by Paolo Bettini

v • d • e Riders on Quick Step Carlos Barredo | Paolo Bettini | Tom Boonen | Matteo Carrara | Wilfried Cretskens | Steven de Jongh | Stijn Devolder | Alexander Efimkin | Addy Engels | Mauro Facci | Juan Manuel Gárate | Dmitry Grabovskiy | Kevin Hulsmans | Alessandro Proni | Sébastien Rosseler | Leonardo Scarselli | Hubert Schwab | Kevin Seeldraeyers | Gert Steegmans | Andrea Tonti | Matteo Tosatto | Jurgen Van de Walle | Kevin van Impe | Davide Viganò | Giovanni Visconti | Wouter Weylandt | Maarten Wynants | Manager: Patrick Lefevere

v • d • e Tour de France Maillot vert (Green jersey) winners 1953 Fritz Schär · 1954 Ferdinand Kübler · 1955-1956 Stan Ockers · 1957 Jean Forestier · 1958 Jean Graczyk · 1959 André Darrigade · 1960 Jean Graczyk · 1961 André Darrigade · 1962 Rudi Altig · 1963 Rik van Looy · 1964-1965 Jan Janssen · 1966 Willy Planckaert · 1967 Jan Janssen · 1968 Franco Bitossi · 1969 Eddy Merckx · 1970 Walter Godefroot · 1971-1972 Eddy Merckx · 1973 Herman van Springel · 1974 Patrick Sercu · 1975 Rik Van Linden · 1976 Freddy Maertens · 1977 Jacques Esclassan · 1978 Freddy Maertens · 1979 Bernard Hinault · 1980 Rudy Pevenage · 1981 Freddy Maertens · 1982-1983 Seán Kelly · 1984 Frank Hoste · 1985 Seán Kelly · 1986 Eric Vanderaerden · 1987 Jean-Paul van Poppel · 1988 Eddy Planckaert · 1989 Seán Kelly · 1990 Olaf Ludwig · 1991 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov · 1992 Laurent Jalabert · 1993-1994 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov · 1995 Laurent Jalabert · 1996-2001 Erik Zabel · 2002 Robbie McEwen · 2003 Baden Cooke · 2004 Robbie McEwen · 2005 Thor Hushovd · 2006 Robbie McEwen · 2007 Tom Boonen

Persondata
NAME	Boonen, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Road bicycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH	1980-10-15
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mol, Belgium, Belgium
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH