From the pages of Velo: In the Eye of the Tornado
- By Neal Rogers
- Published Dec. 29, 2012
- Updated Dec. 29, 2012 at 10:06 AM EDT
Editor’s note: As we ring out 2012, we look at 12 of our favorite stories of the year. Neal Rogers’ profile of Tom Boonen’s rise, fall and triumphant return first appeared in the June 2012 issue of Velo magazine.
In the Eye of the Tornado
When Tom Boonen crossed the finish line, alone, inside the hallowed velodrome of Paris-Roubaix, he’d done much more than just win the sport’s most demanding classic.
By winning Roubaix one week after he’d won the Tour of Flanders — and two weeks after winning both E3 Harelbeke and Ghent-Wevelgem — the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider had silenced his critics, once and for all, proving to the world, and to himself, that he is the best cobblestones racer of his era, and perhaps of all time.
Unlike his sprint wins at Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem and Harelbeke, Boonen won Roubaix in dramatic style, attacking with 55km remaining and holding off all of the sport’s toughest racers save for one — Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan), Boonen’s long-running classics rival — who was watching the race at home in Switzerland while nursing a surgically repaired collarbone.
With his victory, Boonen had tied Roger De Vlaeminck’s record of four Paris-Roubaix wins; he’d also become the only rider to accomplish the extraordinary Flanders-Roubaix double more than once.
But more important than any record, Boonen had come full circle. He’d closed the door on the endless question marks, implications and innuendo that suggested he’d fallen permanently from grace. He’d proven that he had not, in fact, squandered his talent, and he had not sold short the limitless career that lay before him after his breakthrough 2005 season — a career that has been hindered by obstacles, both external and self-imposed.
FILED UNDER: Analysis TAGS: From the pages of Velo / Paris-Roubaix / Tom Boonen
Neal Rogers
An interest in all things rock 'n' roll led Neal into music journalism while attending UC Santa Cruz. After several post-grad years spent waiting tables, surfing and mountain biking, Neal moved to San Francisco, working stints as a bike messenger and at a software start-up. He moved to Colorado in 2001, taking an editorial internship at VeloNews. He never left, and is now Velo's editor in chief. When not traveling the world covering races, Neal can be found riding his bike, skiing, cooking, or attending a concert. Follow him on Twitter at @nealrogers.