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Tour of Flanders, Belgium

3 April, 256K

Boonen, The King Of Flanders

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Tom Boonen has taken the 89th Tour of Flanders in a monumental manner. With nine kilometers to the line Boonen attacked from an elite group, containing super-star Peter Van Petegem.

After 72 kilometers a group of six got away: Marzoli, Boucher, Mourey, Zaballa, Barredo and the winner of the 2004 Paris-Roubaix, Backstedt. Backstedt pounded the cobblestones while Zaballa and Barredo hung on for dear life. Mourey, Boucher and Marzoli were rather quickly dropped and left to be gobbled up by the peloton.

After enough messing about (35K to go), Alessandro Ballan, the runner-up in the 3 Days of De Panne, gave it a go and attacked hard. Ballan was off on his own when a group was forming behind. The group was a star group containing Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), team-mate Andreas Klier, Peter Van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto), Roberto Petito (Fassa Bortolo) and Tom Boonen (Quick-Step). Ballan heard the news of the chasing group and waited up and soon there was a group of six that would last until the end.

One strange sight was Sergej Ivanov (T-Mobile) forcing the pursuit from behind. Strange because in the head group there were already two pink T-Mobiles, Zabel and Klier. Then on the Muur van Geraardsbergen, Van Petegem raised the tempo and quickly Petito and Zabel were shelled, but they came back on the descent. Van Petegem attacked once more on the Bosberg but it came to nothing. Then it was the turn of boy-wonder Boonen, but no one let him go. At nine kilometers remaining he gave it another go and jumped away for good. No one gave a reaction and were too busy playing poker. Boonen kept his head down and gave it full gas to the line. Boonen came away with a victory bigger than any other victory before. We now have a new king of Flanders.

Results 6:22'00", ave 40.2 K/h
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step
2 Andreas Klier (Ger) T-Mobile 0.35
3 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 0.40
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile
5 Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
6 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
7 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 1.42
8 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto
9 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) T-Mobile
10 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team CSC
11 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank
12 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
13 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Française Des Jeux 2.04
14 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
15 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC
16 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis
17 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
18 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Domina Vacanze
19 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
20 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Liquigas-Bianchi
21 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick-Step
22 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux
23 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel
24 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank
25 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak
26 Marc Lotz (Ned) Quick-Step
27 Rolf Aldag (Ger) T-Mobile
28 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel
29 Frank Hoj (Den) Gerolsteiner 3.25
30 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
31 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
32 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 4.32
33 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis
34 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak
35 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel
36 Uros Murn (Slo) Phonak 6.25
37 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC
38 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick-Step
39 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto
40 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
41 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
42 Iñigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
43 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick-Step
44 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner
45 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
46 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank
47 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
48 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick-Step
49 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Française Des Jeux
50 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
51 David Cañada (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
52 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel
53 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
54 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team CSC
55 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank
56 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel
57 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Ag2R Prévoyance 6.40
58 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 7.40
59 Franck Renier (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 9.52
60 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
61 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Liquigas-Bianchi 10.21
62 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo
63 Stephan Schreck (Ger) T-Mobile
64 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick-Step
65 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile
66 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2R Prévoyance 10.26
67 Johan Coenen (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech 11.40
68 Kristof Trouve (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
69 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
70 Gregory Rast (Swi) Phonak 13.19
71 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
72 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Team Wiesenhof
73 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Domina Vacanze
74 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Crédit Agricole
75 Rafael Nuritdinov (Uzb) Domina Vacanze
76 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak
77 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole
78 Andrus Aug (Est) Fassa Bortolo
79 Matej Jurco (Svk) Domina Vacanze
80 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
81 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Crédit Agricole
82 Ignacio Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak
83 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank
84 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
85 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
86 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Team CSC
87 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis
88 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-T Interim
89 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner
90 David Boucher (Fra) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
91 Christophe Mengin (Fra) Française Des Jeux
92 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2R Prévoyance
93 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
94 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
95 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
96 Erki Pütsep (Est) Ag2R Prévoyance
97 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
98 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank
99 Wesley Van Der Linden (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-T Interim
100 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-T Interim
Starters: 196