Boonen Rises Above in Roubaix

On Easter Sunday 2009 in France, the resurrection of Tom Boonen in the eyes of his fans and detractors commenced anew on the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix. Denied the opportunity to defend his green jersey from the 2007 Tour de France after testing positive for cocaine last May, Boonen instead set his sights on repeating in Paris-Roubaix in 2009-- another race organized by ASO, the group which unilaterally denied him entry to the Tour (cocaine is not sanctioned out of competition with suspension by the UCI or WADA). Allowed to line up at the start this year, a repentant Boonen seized the opportunity, repeatedly attacking with near-religious fervor to split the field decisively and finish forty-seven seconds ahead of former teammate Filippo Pozzato.

This race has always brought out the best in Boonen. Ever since he snatched third place from a strong field of cycling’s hardcore classics riders in his maiden Paris-Roubaix in 2002, Boonen has been inextricably linked with the race. Even as the Tour of Flanders holds such a prominent place in this Belgian’s heart, it is Roubaix where he has time and time again proven at his most adept. It is the stage for which Boonen is most naturally fitted. Paris-Roubaix is to Tom Boonen what a race like the Tour de France is to Lance Armstrong.

Never did the result seem in any doubt today. Boonen controlled the break completely, and was blessed with the good fortune of only one tire flat. He was the only one of the main contenders to not suffer a spill on the dust-slicked cobblestone road surface. Thus, when breakaway companion tumbled in Le Carrefour de l’Arbre, the final five-star cobblestone section of the race mere miles outside of Roubaix, it became more obvious with each passing kilometer that this was destined to be Boonen’s day.

Only once has Boonen failed to reach the top-ten in this race, suffering a sophomore slump when he dropped down to twenty-fourth in 2003. He has claimed five podium finishes -- if one includes his sliding into the second position in 2006 after Peter Van Petegem, Leif Hoste and Vladimir Gusev were disqualified after illegally riding through a closed railroad crossing just seconds before a train passed through. Boonen, along with Alessandro Ballan and Juan-Antonio Flecha, were just a few second back when the train caused the split; by the time they could come through, they had lost nearly a minute and a half. Yet through Boonen’s determination, the three unlucky riders in the second chase group behind winner Fabian Cancellara had regained over a minute of their advantage in the final ten kilometers to finish only twenty-three seconds behind the disqualified riders.

BOONEN @ PARIS-ROUBAIX
YEAR	AGE	PLACE
2002	21	3rd
2003	22	24th
2004	23	9th
2005	24	1st
2006	25	2nd
2007	26	6th
2008	27	1st
2009	28	1st

But what is even more amazing is this: with his stunning victory today, the 28-year-old Boonen is one step closer to claiming the all-time record for wins in this venerable 113-year-old race. One more and he draws dead even with the current holder of the title Mr. Paris-Roubaix, Roger de Vlaeminck. Considering that de Vlaeminck was twenty-nine when he took his final title in the Roubaix velodrome in 1977, Boonen is right on pace to match that mark if he can make it a three-peat next year.

This goes beyond merely the record books, though. Boonen is already as accomplished a rider as de Vlaeminck. In 2005, with his first Paris-Roubaix title coming on the heels of his first win in his native Tour of Flanders, Boonen took up where his compatriot and mentor Johan Museeuw had left off in retirement. But in completing the 2005 Flanders/Roubaix double, he stepped into territory where not even Museeuw had ventured.

Only eight other riders had ever won both races in the same season. The first, Henri Suter of Switzerland, performed the feat in 1923. No non-Belgian would do it from that point forth. Seven of Boonen’s countrymen had completed the rare double, the most recent being the aforementioned Van Petegem in 2003. Roger de Vlaeminck succeeded in pulling off the double in his string of 1977 successes. But Museeuw never managed the task. Not even Eddy Merckx, the world’s most celebrated cyclist in professional history, had pulled off the feat...

Boonen then went one better, completing a treble when he added the rainbow jersey of the world champion with his victory in Madrid. This unprecedented feat -- something NO other rider had ever pulled off in a single season -- marked his official big-time moment when he vaulted into the driver’s seat as the newest Lion of Flanders.

The racing season will now head eastward, to the Ardennes of the Walloon region of Belgium and into the Netherlands. A different breed of rider from the cobblestone warriors will come forth, navigating the winding courses and frequent, punchy climbs of the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Boonen will aim next for his second season goal: redemption in the green jersey points race at the Tour de France.

But for now, we can all revel in his preeminent status as the greatest cobblestone rider of his generation. For all the distractions which celebrity can bring to a twenty-something, including career-risking diversions like recreational drug use, Boonen is never anything if not focused on his task when he lines up in races like Flanders and Roubaix. He has now pulled off repeat victories in each race (2005 and 2006 in Flanders; 2008 and 2009 in Roubaix).

A throwback to the era when men like de Vlaeminck reveled in the suffering of races like Roubaix and lived a little further from potentially-damaging public scrutiny, Boonen has paid his dues for his indiscretions and has earned his rightful place amongst Belgium’s best cyclists in a nation with a long love affair with the bicycle and racing. He now stands even on the roll call of Roubaix winners with such heralded fellow Belgians Eddy Merckx, Gaston Rebry, Rik Van Looy and his mentor, Johan Museeuw. Next stop: Roger de Vlaeminck. Only twelve short months will determine if he can get there in as short a time window as did his countryman.

But regardless of what happens next year and beyond, the 2009 victory of Tom Boonen at Paris-Roubaix will be remembered as the point when the young Belgian reasserted his dominance of the worn-down roads of yesteryear. 2009 will resonate through the decades for its measure of vindication, its measure of repentance, and the display of unbridled joy when it was finally apparent that all this suffering might amount to something. With time to celebrate as he crossed the line in the Roubaix velodrome, Boonen’s third victory brought an extra measure of joy to Easter celebrations throughout Belgium and beyond...

Submitted 4/12/2009

Comment on this article to Comments@informativesports.com