Tom Boonen

On 25 September Boonen became the 21st Belgian road world champion.

He won the race in Madrid, after the leading six riders were caught.

Tom Boonen (born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

He also won two stages of the Tour de France including the final stage in Paris, as Museeuw did in 1990.

He outsprinted Alejandro Valverde to become the first Belgian since Museeuw, in 1996, to wear the rainbow jersey.

At the start of 2002 Boonen rode for, finishing third in Paris–Roubaix after an early breakaway.

Fellow Belgian Johan Museeuw had escaped to a solo victory.

Team captain George Hincapie crashed in a slippery section of the course leaving Boonen to ride for himself.

Boonen's performance led Museeuw – his childhood hero – to declare Boonen his successor.

Boonen said US Postal did not give him enough chances to ride for himself.

Towards the end of the year he said he would leave, despite being under contract, and joined at the start of 2003.

The 2003 season, however, did not go well, with lacklustre performance due to fatigue and knee injury.

Museeuw was team leader for the spring classics.

During the 2004 season Boonen won the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Gent–Wevelgem and the Scheldeprijs.

Boonen won the 2005 UCI World Road Race Championships, and was a single-day road specialist with a strong finishing sprint.

He won the cycling monuments Paris–Roubaix 4 times and the Tour of Flanders 3 times, among many other prestigious victories, such as prevailing 5 times in the E3 Harelbeke, winning 6 stages of the Tour de France and winning the Overall title of the Tour of Qatar 4 times.

In 2005 Boonen won the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix and the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, and came second in the Omloop "Het Volk" behind teammate Nick Nuyens.

He was first to win the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, and the World Cycling Championship in the same season.

In the Tour of Flanders Boonen appeared to be the strongest sprinter in the final group.

However, he attacked a few kilometers from the finish to the surprise of others and stayed away.

Erik Dekker said: "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".

In Paris–Roubaix, Boonen entered the velodrome in the leading trio, and waited until the last moment before outsprinting George Hincapie and the Spaniard, Juan Antonio Flecha.

In the Tour de France, Boonen won the second and third stages, taking the lead in the points classification.

He retired after stage 11 due to injuries sustained in crashes.

He came second in the 2005 UCI ProTour rankings.

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.

Boonen won three stages of the Eneco Tour of Benelux but could not keep his title at the world championship, held on a circuit that was hillier than in Madrid 2005.

Paolo Bettini won and Boonen came ninth.

In 2006, Boonen won the Tour of Flanders and came second in Paris–Roubaix the following week.

Leif Hoste, Peter Van Petegem and Vladimir Gusev placed second to fourth at Roubaix but were disqualified for riding through a closed level-crossing before a train passed.

This promoted Boonen to second, behind Fabian Cancellara.

Boonen won the second and the third stages of the Tour of Belgium.

Before the Tour de France he claimed himself to be the strongest and smartest sprinter.

However, he did not win a stage in the first week, beaten by Robbie McEwen and Óscar Freire.

However he wore the yellow jersey for the first time, losing it in the first time trial to Sergei Honchar.

In his 2007, Boonen won five stages of the Tour of Qatar and came second in the general classification behind teammate Wilfried Cretskens.

He won Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and E3 Prijs Vlaanderen but he didn't win one of the five cycling monuments.

His best placing was third in Milan–San Remo.

Boonen won stages 6 and 12 of the Tour de France in the absence of Alessandro Petacchi and Robbie McEwen.

Boonen abandoned the Tour during the 15th stage – 187 km from Gap to l'Alpe d'Huez – when he was unable to reach the summit of the Col du Lautaret.