Boonen Barrels Into Record-Book

Tom Boonen confirmed yet again he's the king of the cobblestones after winning the “queen of the classics" for the third time in five years at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.

Just a week after Stijn Devolder defended his title at Tour of Flanders aboard a Tarmac SL2, Boonen did the same thing on a muggy, windy Easter Sunday aboard an S-Works Roubaix SL2, giving the pair a unique place in history of the becoming the first teammates to defend their respective victories in the Flanders-Roubaix double.

"To win alone in Roubaix is like a dream," Boonen said. "I honestly didn't think I would win today. I didn’t think I had good legs, but I was at the right place at the decisive moment and I started to feel better."

Winning Roubaix – arguably cycling's most difficult race with 52.9km of rough cobblestones spread over 27 sections in the 259km run from Compiègne to Roubaix -- is never easy, something Boonen was quick to admit.

The Quick Step captain overcame a crash, a mechanical problem and avoided two costly crashes on the decisive Carrefour de l'Arbre cobblestone section with 17km to go to drop an elite group of six leading riders to claim victory in the best possible way.

Boonen barreled out of the Carrefour section nursing a slender, 10-second lead to arch-rival and good friend Filippo Pozzato.

The pair matched pedal strokes until it was clear Boonen had the triumph safely wrapped up, winning 47 seconds clear with Thor Hushovd rounding out the podium with third at 1:17 back, out-sprinting Leif Hoste and Johan Van Summeren.

"I crashed early (on the 25th section) and it was hard to come back, then I had a broken wheel for 30km. I finally decided to change that. I started to feel better toward the end," he recounted. "I attacked on the Carrefour and just kept going. I didn't realize there were crashes behind me. I knew Pozzato was chasing. It was a duel between great champions. That's good for cycling."

Boonen had plenty of time to point to his Quick Step jersey and hold three fingers up in the air to mark his three victories.

"This was the hardest one to win of my three," he said. "I actually had less pressure than last year, when everyone seemed to think it was my last chance to ever win a big race. I think this is my most successful season so far of my career. I've been one of the deciding racers in every race I’ve started so far."

Winning the "Hell of the North" is becoming something of a habit for Tornado Tom, who blew to victory for the first time in 2005. He's just one short of tying the record of four wins held by Roger de Vlaeminck.

"The key to Roubaix is to never say die. It's all about surviving, surviving, surviving," he said. "I don't know why I am so good at the cobblestones. The key is to never give up."

It was another spectacular day for the Quick Step team, with four riders in the top 14. Sylvain Chavanel eighth, Wouter Weylandt in 11th and Kevin Van Impe in 14th. The also put Maaten Wynants into an important 11-man breakaway that stayed clear until 70km to go.

"It was another beautiful race with the victory for the team," a happy Chavanel said. "I used a little too much force. I was held up in the Arenberg by a crash and I paid for that in the final. I haven't raced Roubaix since 2001, so to finish eighth and have the team win is something extraordinary. It’s been going like that since the beginning of the year for me."

Despite a fantastic opening two thirds of the race, things didn’t go quite as planned for Saxo Bank in the final, decisive moves.

Saxo Bank put Kasper Klostergaard into the early breakaway and then 2006 champion Fabian Cancellara looked to be back in fighting shape after struggling to overcome injuries so far this spring when he led the main pack over the decisive Arenberg cobbles with 92.5km to go.

At one point, Saxo Bank had six riders in the lead group with less than 50km to go, but the team finished empty handed after missing the late attacks by Hushovd and Boonen.

Matti Breschel slipped into the top-10 after winning his four-up sprint out of his group coming into the velodrome. Kur-Asle Arvesen came through 16th and Marcus Ljungqvist was 30th at 6:32 back.

"I have mixed feelings about today despite finishing 10th. We just didn’t have the legs to follow the late attacks. There's no excuse for that, except that they were just stronger," Breschel said. "One of the good things we can take from today as the team rode a great race most of the day, but I have to admit I am disappointed to have been able to be at the front."

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