Is that Boonen guy any good?

barnstorm said:

OK, it's early. OK, Petacchi and McEwen are not there. Still, Boonen is putting a bigger hurting on the Middle East than W and his band of bombers. Even without the other two big boys of sprinting there, it's not like the field is weak. He is beating Robbie Hunter, Peter Wrolich, Stuart O'Grady, and Erik Zabel just to name a few.

In case you don't know what I am talking about, Tom Boonen has opened his season with three straight wins. The Doha Quatar GP on the 27th is a one day prelude to the Tour of Quatar. Tom won the GP and has now won the first two stages of the Tour. Pretty nice way to break in that fancy jersey with the rainbow stripes.

Again, before you ask where the hell Quatar is and why anyone cares, take a look at the big league start list

cyclingnews.comroad.phpOpen ↗

Gonna be an interesting season. He said he wants to round out his resume with a cool treble of victories in MSR, Flanders, and LBL. After his crazy ride last year where he rode the world off his wheel in Flanders, smoked big George in PR, and that little ride in Madrid in the fall, who is going to bet against him?

Certainly not the guys chasing him around the gulf right now.

It's still January 😄.

barnstorm said:

OK, it's early. OK, Petacchi and McEwen are not there. Still, Boonen is putting a bigger hurting on the Middle East than W and his band of bombers. Even without the other two big boys of sprinting there, it's not like the field is weak. He is beating Robbie Hunter, Peter Wrolich, Stuart O'Grady, and Erik Zabel just to name a few.

In case you don't know what I am talking about, Tom Boonen has opened his season with three straight wins. The Doha Quatar GP on the 27th is a one day prelude to the Tour of Quatar. Tom won the GP and has now won the first two stages of the Tour. Pretty nice way to break in that fancy jersey with the rainbow stripes.

Again, before you ask where the hell Quatar is and why anyone cares, take a look at the big league start list

cyclingnews.comroad.phpOpen ↗

Gonna be an interesting season. He said he wants to round out his resume with a cool treble of victories in MSR, Flanders, and LBL. After his crazy ride last year where he rode the world off his wheel in Flanders, smoked big George in PR, and that little ride in Madrid in the fall, who is going to bet against him?

Certainly not the guys chasing him around the gulf right now.

Four starts in the rainbow jersey (one was in November 2005) - four wins. He says he's the same person he was before he put on the stripes but this has got to start going to his head.

DiabloScott said:

Four starts in the rainbow jersey (one was in November 2005) - four wins. He says he's the same person he was before he put on the stripes but this has got to start going to his head.

are you sure you should count a Criterium holiday race in November as one of his victories? :P

Dead Star said:

are you sure you should count a Criterium holiday race in November as one of his victories? :P

Ummm, Boonen came back and announced, as his tean did, that "Number dont lie"
His power output is significantly up from last year, and it was already miraculous, I mean what kid stays with the fianl break in Paris Roubaix first time in the race like he did with Postal at age 21.

This is why he is targetting MSR, Flanders, and LBL. With his increased power and a slimmer weight he can get over big hills with the best.

I think he will win anything he races this year.
He is more like Mercxk than any rider since big Eddy.

Maybe he WILL try to transform to a stage racer, it happened to Armstrong.

bobke said:

Ummm, Boonen came back and announced, as his tean did, that "Number dont lie"
His power output is significantly up from last year, and it was already miraculous, I mean what kid stays with the fianl break in Paris Roubaix first time in the race like he did with Postal at age 21.

This is why he is targetting MSR, Flanders, and LBL. With his increased power and a slimmer weight he can get over big hills with the best.

I think he will win anything he races this year.
He is more like Mercxk than any rider since big Eddy.

Maybe he WILL try to transform to a stage racer, it happened to Armstrong.

Seems like he could do anything he wants to do hombredebobkeo. I do agree about the comparison. The way he rode the field off his wheel on the dead flat, smoothly paved finish to Flanders last year was twisted. Too soon to dub him a stage racer but who's to argue he couldn't make the switch if he changed his training approach. Perhaps when he has too many stage and single day victory medals to get in his front door, he will try for a longer race. I guess he should finish the tour first though.

Dead Star said:

It's still January 😄.

Aye, it is still January, but it does look like Tom has not only kept his form over the winter, but has managed to improve as well.

I think that he and the QuickStep management are hoping for him to peak three times this year.

1. Late March -> Early April for MSR -> Flanders, etc.

then relax a bit and let the form drop

2. Gear up in July for a go at the Green Jersery

then relax again and let the form drop

3. Gear up for another go at the Worlds

That would be similar to his 2005 season, if he can forego the crashes, injuries, and stomach surgery.

Three Cheers for Tom, I think he's a great rider, and very entertaining to watch!

barnstorm said:

OK, it's early. OK, Petacchi and McEwen are not there. Still, Boonen is putting a bigger hurting on the Middle East than W and his band of bombers. Even without the other two big boys of sprinting there, it's not like the field is weak. He is beating Robbie Hunter, Peter Wrolich, Stuart O'Grady, and Erik Zabel just to name a few.

Scarily good form. The guy is a complete freak. Will be very interesting to see how he and Petacchi go head to head.

patch70 said:

Scarily good form. The guy is a complete freak. Will be very interesting to see how he and Petacchi go head to head.

He is the man to beat. He has raised the bar. Can Pettachi, McEwen, Freire, Bettini, or anybody respond?

Boonen is phenomenal.

In 2005 he was practically unbeatable and the way he has started 2006 looks
ominous for his opponents.
I am not sure that the 2005 results were an exception for Tom - I am hesitant to say it but he just could be the next Merckx as far as one days races are concerned.

Tom talks about developing in to a grand tour rider eventually.
I think he will try to win as many one day races as possible before
trying to develop in to a grand tour contender.

I suspect his Classics palmares might even be better if he hadn't had to play second fiddle to Hincapie at USPS - best thing he could have done, to get out and be numero uno at Quickstep.

Of course, he may be burnt out by the time he's in his late 20s - but what memories we'll have...

And he's already spoken about going for GTs in a few years time...

micron said:

I suspect his Classics palmares might even be better if he hadn't had to play second fiddle to Hincapie at USPS - best thing he could have done, to get out and be numero uno at Quickstep.

Of course, he may be burnt out by the time he's in his late 20s - but what memories we'll have...

And he's already spoken about going for GTs in a few years time...

Yes, I agree the move from USPS was a good move on his part (joined 2002, left 2003).
TB has come in to his own since then.

Patrick Lefevere is a good manager and the acquisition of TB to fit in with the likes of Bettini shows great management (for me Lefevere is the best manager
around bar none).

I hope that TB can keep winning as he is a great advertisement for our sport.
He's approachable, is fluent in several languages and has a great image with no baggage.

If he can avoid the Vandenbrouke and Freedy Maartens route, I think Belgium might well have found their new Merckx.

DC should of held onto to him..... but at that time they were obsessed by the Tour.....

micron said:

I suspect his Classics palmares might even be better if he hadn't had to play second fiddle to Hincapie at USPS - best thing he could have done, to get out and be numero uno at Quickstep.

Of course, he may be burnt out by the time he's in his late 20s - but what memories we'll have...

And he's already spoken about going for GTs in a few years time...

whiteboytrash said:

DC should of held onto to him..... but at that time they were obsessed by the Tour.....

There was nothing they could do.
They dont want to force a rider to stay with them, same as Heras.
(Bet they are glad they let him go, eh?)
But Postal had done a huge amount for him, gave him bikes, let him train with the team before he joined, Dirk Demol knew how great he was going to be, but thats way in the past,.
A rider like Boonen gets to call his own shots, like riding on a Belgian Team, which I guess quick step is, right? Or is it?
Anyway no way Tom should be second fiddle on anyone's team and there was no way Postal could devote enough team resources to help him OR George in the classics.

But the future is the thing with Tom.
I hate to say it but wothout anyone close to him it could get boring...
(jjust to stay even with the Lance detractors who have said this for 7 years)

I mean a few sprinters Like Peta and McEwen will find a way occasionaly to get around him for sure, but who can duel with him in Flanders or ROubaix or MSR. In MSR you attack him from a ways out and he can stay with you, you wait for the sprint and he gets you there as well.

Geez

bobke said:

But the future is the thing with Tom.
I hate to say it but wothout anyone close to him it could get boring...
(jjust to stay even with the Lance detractors who have said this for 7 years)

I mean a few sprinters Like Peta and McEwen will find a way occasionaly to get around him for sure, but who can duel with him in Flanders or ROubaix or MSR. In MSR you attack him from a ways out and he can stay with you, you wait for the sprint and he gets you there as well.

Geez

Quick Step are a interior floor manufacturing company - and they're Belgian I think (they used co-sponsor the team with Mapei - the Italian building supply firm).

But getting back to Boonen : to win a one day race like Roubaix takes skill, stamina and some luck.

All of the one day races involve some luck to a lesser extent too.
So win as regularly as Tom is now doing is a great achievement.

But I don't think the one day races could ever become boring : there are always possibilities in a one day.

bobke said:

But Postal had done a huge amount for him, gave him bikes, let him train with the team before he joined Geez

What a professional cyclist was given a bike ? Wow USPS were really good to him... most other pro cyclists have to pay for there bikes....🙂

bobke said:

But the future is the thing with Tom.
I hate to say it but wothout anyone close to him it could get boring...
(jjust to stay even with the Lance detractors who have said this for 7 years)

I mean a few sprinters Like Peta and McEwen will find a way occasionaly to get around him for sure, but who can duel with him in Flanders or ROubaix or MSR. In MSR you attack him from a ways out and he can stay with you, you wait for the sprint and he gets you there as well.

Geez

I don`t think it will be boring at all, Boonen is not only a sprinter, he has won a lot of races in breakaways (E3, Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and he even tried it during this years GP Doha..)

Petacchi and McEwen are pure sprinters built more for the Points Jersey battles than the Classics - Boonen's more a roadman sprinter in the Kelly/Jalabert mould

micron said:

Petacchi and McEwen are pure sprinters built more for the Points Jersey battles than the Classics - Boonen's more a roadman sprinter in the Kelly/Jalabert mould

I think Boonen will go for the Green jeryes at the TDF and he has a good chance to win it... By the way, i read in sportwereld.be that Boonen could go for the jellow jersey in the coming years (not in 2006!). His trainer said in an interview that no decision has been made yet because he is afraid of changing Boonen's programm, it will probebly cost him a lot of speed and you'll never know upfront how his climbing will progress...

cyclingheroes said:

I don`t think it will be boring at all, Boonen is not only a sprinter, he has won a lot of races in breakaways (E3, Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and he even tried it during this years GP Doha..)

He's also already got a stage race win - Tour of Belgium... OK, not the most stage-racey of stage races but it does count.

I don't think his time on USPS was a problem, but it was certainly time to leave after
2003.

He's targetting MSR and LBL this year on top of RVV and PR, seems to me he wants to add his name to THIS prestigious list: Merckx, Van Looy, De Vlaeminck winaars of all five monuments... all Belgians, now THAT's good company.

A quick palmares:

Tom BOONEN
Belge
Né le 15/10/1980 à Mol
Pro en 2002
Equipes successives : US POSTAL 2002 / QUICK STEP-DAVITAMON 2003-2004 / QUICK STEP-INNERGETIC 2005-2006
45 victoires

2002 (1)
Une étape de l'Uniqa Classic

-

2003 (1)
Une étape du Tour de Belgique

-

2004 (24)
Gand-Wevelgem
Grand Prix E3
Grand Prix de l'Escaut
Circuit Mandel-Lys-Escaut
Memorial Van Steenbergen
Tour de Picardie
Deux étapes du Tour de France
Deux étapes du Tour de Picardie
Deux étapes du Tour d'Allemagne
Deux étapes du Ster Elektrotoer
Deux étapes du Circuit Franco-Belge
Une étape du Tour du Qatar
Une étape de la Ruta del Sol
Une étape du Tour de Belgique
Une étape du Tour de Grande-Bretagne
Anvers Derny
Peer
Roosendaal
Maarheeze

-

2005 (18)
Championnat du Monde
Tour des Flandres
Paris-Roubaix
Grand Prix E3
Tour de Belgique
Deux étapes du Tour de France
Deux étapes du Tour de Belgique
Deux étapes du Tour du Qatar
Deux étapes de Paris-Nice
Une étape du Tour de Picardie
Made
Na Tour Broker Criterium
Acht van Chaam
Amstel Curaçao Race

-

2006 (1)
Doha International GP