Unbelievable - Paris-Roubaix, Flanders... and the World Championships!
What a thoroughly exciting race - I thought Vino was going to blow my mind and pull off a Champs Elysees redux, and then big Tom comes blasting through out of absolutely nowhere.
Obviously the one day rider of the year, but this also puts Boonen in definite contention for rider of the year, period. Stupendous.

Unbelievable - Paris-Roubaix, Flanders... and the World Championships!
What a thoroughly exciting race - I thought Vino was going to blow my mind and pull off a Champs Elysees redux, and then big Tom comes blasting through out of absolutely nowhere.
Obviously the one day rider of the year, but this also puts Boonen in definite contention for rider of the year, period. Stupendous.


Three cheers to him I say.... Its good to see the race come down to the best of the best, not an opportunist with fresh legs taking the win. Its sad that the americans were unable to factor in any of the races this weekend, but its was a still a pretty good show.

I was rooting for Vino. Oh well. I was surprised that Petacchi and McEwen did not figure into the finalie though. I was hoping to see a sprint of all the biggies head to head.

Boonen really rode with his head, and finished it off with his legs. I think vino,bettini,and boogerd should have finished it off at the end but fooled around too much. Iguess that last climb really sapped the strength of the sprinters, as mcewen and ale-jet were nowhere to be seen. Quite an exciting end to the race!

The last lap had an average speed of almost 48 km per hour. That explains why most of the pure spinters were gone (although less than a minute behind is not bad, for Petacchi).

Boonen was brought back into contention by Van Petegem, togehter with that group, so they caught the front group with maybe 2 or 300 m to go. A little indecision in the front group played a part too I guess.

What intrigues me is what went wrong with the Italian tactics. They had enlisted some British riders, a Belarus (Fassa Bortolo team mate!) rider, so their team didn't have to work till far in the race.

Did anyone else catch the announcer towards the end when he was talking about Boogerd? He said something like "Here comes Michael Boogerd and his big, white teeth." I thought that was pretty funny.

Obviously the one day rider of the year, but this also puts Boonen in definite contention for rider of the year, period. Stupendous.

Not even a contest. Boonen is clearly the rider of the year. He's won the 3 most prestigious one day races and threw in a couple of TdF stages for good measure. If he rides Paris-Tours he could even add another lesser classic to his palmares. Di Luca is the only other consideration. But his wins just aren't quite as prestigious in total even if he goes on to win Lombardy. If he had won the Giro than maybe it would be a toss up.

What intrigues me is what went wrong with the Italian tactics. They had enlisted some British riders, a Belarus (Fassa Bortolo team mate!) rider, so their team didn't have to work till far in the race.

Apparently Petacchi came down with something and wasn't at his best. That left only Bettini to pick up the pieces and he claims he was told too late in the game that Petacchi wasn't good, like when he couldn't follow the last time up the hill.

I was surprised McEwen wasn't up there. He looked very good at Paris-Brussels following the attackers over the final difficulties, and then outsprinting everyone when it regrouped somewhat in the final kms.

Not even a contest. Boonen is clearly the rider of the year. He's won the 3 most prestigious one day races and threw in a couple of TdF stages for good measure. If he rides Paris-Tours he could even add another lesser classic to his palmares. Di Luca is the only other consideration. But his wins just aren't quite as prestigious in total even if he goes on to win Lombardy. If he had won the Giro than maybe it would be a toss up.

Most prestigious wins, that's Boonen for sure. Best professional, from day one to the last? I still say Danilo. Depends on how you define rider of the year, I guess. Danilo has shown a consistent level of excellence all year, in one-day races as well as a very tough Grand Tour, and looks to be a legitimate winner of the first Pro Tour (by that I mean a guy who has won some races, rather than being most consistent non-winner).

Tom's victories are certainly higher profile than Danilo's, but Danilo's throwback season in both classics and grand tours still merits serious consideration.

Boonen gets a season spanning triple + TdF stage wins + riding the Vuelta, Di Luca rides Classics and GTs and heads the ProTour rankings - and then there's Valverde on the podium at the Worlds after beating Armstrong in a mountain stage...

long may this trend to stay competitive all season continue - makes for a) great racing and b) great reputations

Not even a contest. Boonen is clearly the rider of the year.

I have to say he has some stiff competition from Di Luca:
Amstel Gold
Fleche Wallone
1 stage + 1st GC Tour du Pays Basque
2 Stages Giro + 4th GC Giro


Even assuming he doesn't do anything else this year (though he looks like a shoe-in for the ProTour overall) those are some very impressive wins that show a huge versatility - one days, one week stage races, and a brilliant showing at the Giro.

Boonen's obviously the more glamourous winner (and worth much more to a sponsor) but Di Luca is the better all-around rider.

I have to say he has some stiff competition from Di Luca:
Amstel Gold
Fleche Wallone
1 stage + 1st GC Tour du Pays Basque
2 Stages Giro + 4th GC Giro
Boonen's obviously the more glamourous winner (and worth much more to a sponsor) but Di Luca is the better all-around rider.

I agree Di Luca is a better all-around rider but Boonen is the rider of the year in my opinion. He won arguably the 3 most important one day races of the year which is a phenomenal accomplishment. Di Luca's one-day wins are very good but not at the level of a Flanders or Paris Roubaix (i.e. like either LBL or MSR) although Lombardy would certainly make his case better. And while he rode impressively at the Giro, he didn't even make the podium let alone win it. It's simply a matter of prestige over breadth.

Belgiaphile I say " Palm Frites and Begian Beer Tonight!". Belgians rode as a team, Italians tried but if Petacchi didn't have the lesg he should have let Bettini do the earlier break. PVP doing a huge pull to put Boonen into position. Awesome. Agreed DiLuca has had a great year but once again just do the trophy test. which would you have in your case?
I'll take R-V-V, Roubaix and the Rainbow any day. I used to respect Boonen, but when he attacked at 9K in R-V-V when he could have sat on and won the sprint made me a fan. Kid has panache and wants to win races in the tradition of the belgian greats. Bravo Tom, well done and nice work to the team.

This is why it's so freaking lame that he won't be racing next year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/4284634.stm

This is why it's so freaking lame that he won't be racing next year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/4284634.stm


He wont be racing anymore THIS year.

Lombardia, who cares. surgery now, heal this fall, build winter and spring and go for the repeats! good luck Tom under the knife

He wont be racing anymore THIS year.

Hah hah, I'm retarded, I need to learn to read

Not even a contest. Boonen is clearly the rider of the year. He's won the 3 most prestigious one day races and threw in a couple of TdF stages for good measure. If he rides Paris-Tours he could even add another lesser classic to his palmares. Di Luca is the only other consideration. But his wins just aren't quite as prestigious in total even if he goes on to win Lombardy. If he had won the Giro than maybe it would be a toss up.

I think that this is an unfair comparison. If the World's course had included 5 copies of Cote de San Nicolas in the end, will you have made the same comment? ;-)

Of the 5 Monuments (MSR, PR, LBL, RVV & Lombardia) Boonen has won 2 plus the World's. Di Luca has won none. In the Grand Tours Boonen wins 2 stages, Di Luca takes 2 in the Giro. So in my book, while I like Di Luca, I can't rate his season as equal to or better than Boonen's.