Tom Boonen Discussion Thread

[Mr.White]

Re:

CT: Which riders have most impressed you during your career?
TB: [Alberto] Contador. [Alejandro] Valverde. [Bradley] Wiggins. [Johan] Museeuw on a good day, but I was just a little bit too late. I never really witnessed his best days. [Paolo] Bettini, he showed me sometimes, some good races.

CT: Is Sagan the most naturally talented rider you have ever seen? If not, who is?
TB: No, he’s good, but not that good. I think Valverde or Contador. Valverde is a guy that nobody ever… I mean everybody knows him, but if you look at what Valverde has accomplished in his career, it’s unbelievable. He’s won one-day Classics over and over again, he has podium finishes in Grand Tours, and winning 25 races a year. He wins races in sprints and breakaways and on climbs and that’s true talent in my eyes.

Sagan is fast, he’s really good, and he can do the Classics and everything, but he’s still just a sprinter who can do a little bit more. And he’s not winning that much either. If he wins five or 10 races a year that’s a lot, but it’s not a lot. That’s a good rider, but it’s not that impressive

It's a bit odd that he mentions Contador along with incredibly well rounded riders like Valverde and Sir Bradley, given how much weight Boonen seems to assign to consistency and versatility. But then Contador was by far and away the best at Grand Tours, prior to Froome's emergence, so being the (former) king of the specialists in the most prestigious specialty obviously warrants respect.

Also, no mention of Cancellara?

I wonder what the results would be a in 'most talented rider of the last 15 years' poll in the peloton. I guess it would come down to Valverde, Contador, Boonen, Cancellara.

Indeed. Those four are also the very best riders of this century!

 

[jmdirt]

Interesting perspective:

CT: It’s interesting that you say Roubaix this year, considering you were so agonizingly close to setting the record. Yet it was also clear that you didn’t seem overly upset about it. You were smiling on the podium, congratulating Mathew Hayman, almost enjoying it.
TB: Yeah, but in the end winning and losing is one thing. The objective, of course, is trying to win a fifth Roubaix. That has been the objective since I won my fourth. But if I look back at what I’ve done the last few months to get on that level, I was really happy — I was really, really happy. And also, if someone out of the other guys had to win it, it was Matthew. The guy deserves it. He has been such a good helper all of his career and for him it’s a life changer, and if I win a fifth, what would it change? I would have been happy, a little bit happier, but for the rest would’ve changed nothing. For him it changes his life. It was nice to see him win."

Good interview.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Re: Re:

It's a bit odd that he mentions Contador along with incredibly well rounded riders like Valverde and Sir Bradley, given how much weight Boonen seems to assign to consistency and versatility. But then Contador was by far and away the best at Grand Tours, prior to Froome's emergence, so being the (former) king of the specialists in the most prestigious specialty obviously warrants respect.

Also, no mention of Cancellara?

I wonder what the results would be a in 'most talented rider of the last 15 years' poll in the peloton. I guess it would come down to Valverde, Contador, Boonen, Cancellara.

Indeed. Those four are also the very best riders of this century!

I'd agree with you, but I suspect the poll would be overrun with votes for Froome and Sagan. Both impressive riders, but neither of whom has demonstrated the prolonged dominance of the four you mention. They'll likely both join your list before they're finished, but--as current flavor of the month--the hype might artificially inflate their standing.

@SeriousSam, I was also surprised by his answer about who impressed him on the stones. (Omitting Cancellara.) Boonen is typically so gracious that I thought, surely, his longstanding rivalry with Cancellara was going to get a call-out. Disappointed that he equivocated.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

[quote="
I'd agree with you, but I suspect the poll would be overrun with votes for Froome and Sagan. Both impressive riders, but neither of whom has demonstrated the prolonged dominance of the four you mention. They'll likely both join your list before they're finished, but--as current flavor of the month--the hype might artificially inflate their standing.[/quote]

Well, the question was "who is the most talented" not "who has had the best career".

 

[Mr.White]

First win of the year for Tomekke! Beat Demare and Van Genechten, not bad... He stated that his main goal is WC in Qatar. Let us pray for some wind there..

 

[CheckMyPecs]

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

 

[May0maniac]

Because he's a badass, who's probably still their best rider in Paris-Roubaix, and he seems to be a teamplayer.

 

[Bardamu]

Nice to see him renewing his contract, hope to see him more outside of the cobbled classics. Although, bit late for that.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

Then you don't know much...

 

[Bardamu]

Re: Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

Sep was stronger.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

If you look at it purely from a sporting perspective, there's no way his contract should have been renewed. All he's done this season is finish second in a Paris-Roubaix with the worst winner since Servais Knaven and yesterday's stage win in the Tour of WTF Cares.

There must be other, non-sporting reasons for Lefevere to pony up the money.

 

[trucido]

Re: Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

Matt Hayman disagrees with you.

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

If you look at it purely from a sporting perspective, there's no way his contract should have been renewed. All he's done this season is finish second in a Paris-Roubaix with the worst winner since Servais Knaven and yesterday's stage win in the Tour of WTF Cares.

There must be other, non-sporting reasons for Lefevere to pony up the money.

In general, TB still has the potential to pop off a monument win, but to the bold, he is one of the most popular people in Belgium. I am pretty sure that the team sponsors are glad to have him on for one more year.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Sep was stronger.

Sep was stronger on the cobbles having sat on whilst Boonen had eaten a lot of wind once Martin was cooked. And Boonen was still stronger once Sep's attacks on the cobbles had failed.

 

[Cannibal72]

Re:

If you look at it purely from a sporting perspective, there's no way his contract should have been renewed. All he's done this season is finish second in a Paris-Roubaix with the worst winner since Servais Knaven and yesterday's stage win in the Tour of WTF Cares.

There must be other, non-sporting reasons for Lefevere to pony up the money.

That's not a sporting perspective, that's a 'I looked at the PR results but didn't watch the actual race' perspective.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

Matt Hayman disagrees with you.

You mean the guy that wheelsucked the entire finale? Hayman won because he was a third rate rider, so no one expected him to close any attacks down. He's still a third rate rider, even with his Roubaix win.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re: Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

Matt Hayman disagrees with you.

You mean the guy that wheelsucked the entire finale? Hayman won because he was a third rate rider, so no one expected him to close any attacks down. He's still a third rate rider, even with his Roubaix win.

And Lefevere goes and rewards the guy who lost to a third-rate rider.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

Matt Hayman disagrees with you.

You mean the guy that wheelsucked the entire finale? Hayman won because he was a third rate rider, so no one expected him to close any attacks down. He's still a third rate rider, even with his Roubaix win.

No he means the guy that wasn't the strongest but was tactically perfect and hence deserved the win. That guy also happened to attack once in the finale despite having been at the front of the race for the full 250k and also chased down Boonen's attack at the end

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

I don't know why they renewed his contract.

He was the strongest guy out of those at the front of the race (and only Sagan and Canc were possibly stronger) at PR. Seems like a decent reason to renew if you ask me

Matt Hayman disagrees with you.

You mean the guy that wheelsucked the entire finale? Hayman won because he was a third rate rider, so no one expected him to close any attacks down. He's still a third rate rider, even with his Roubaix win.

No he means the guy that wasn't the strongest but was tactically perfect and hence deserved the win. That guy also happened to attack once in the finale despite having been at the front of the race for the full 250k and also chased down Boonen's attack at the end

He was wheelsucking in the break as well. He spent less energy than the Boonen group trying to bridge to the break. Hayman won because of his low status. If he'd have had Boonen's palmares everyone would be looking at him to close gaps. That's the nature of cycling.

 

[yaco]

You have no idea. HAYMAN attacked the original break and rode alone for around 10km between 85km to 75km to go.

 

[Bardamu]

You guys are both right. Hayman had been profiting from the fact that there were better riders in the group, but calling him a wheelsucker is unfair. He had been in the break for most of the race. Deserved win. Boonen and Sep would have deserved it as well.

 

[jmdirt]

He's still got the legs to pop one off!

 

[gerundium]

Great sprint today, and in the post race interview he was looking extremely sharp. What will his calendar be towards the end of the season? I presume doha will be his main goal but what else will he ride.

 

[rghysens]

Great sprint today, and in the post race interview he was looking extremely sharp. What will his calendar be towards the end of the season? I presume doha will be his main goal but what else will he ride.

mainly the flat(tish) one day races (brussels, vattenfall, plouay) + eneco tour.