Thanks to a wonderful sprint Tom Boonen won the Gent-Wevelgem race for the second time in his career today, following his first success here in 2004 that started the legend of “Tornado Tom”. Boonen edged out Daniele Bennati (Team Leopard) and Tyler Farrar (Team Garmin) on the finish line.

“It’s a great win that boosts the morale of our whole team. Everyone did a fantastic job today” Boonen says “It was quite an emotion to cross the finish line here. Winning this competition after so many years has a special flavor to it. This doesn’t make much difference for the Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), they’re two different things. I need to improve a bit more to be in top form for the Ronde. This week I will only focus on training and resting when I’m not pedalling. Back to today’s race, Gert (Steegmans) started the sprint and guided me perfectly. The difference between 2004 is that Flanders and Roubaix were a dream back then. The following year I became a Sunday-race type of rider” joked Boonen. “Our team is growing. Chavanel is doing well and so is Terpstra and Steegmans. Everyone still has a good improvement margin before Sunday’s race. We can and must do well. It took some time to find the right mechanisms within the team with all these young and new riders. But we’re very well-synched now and I think today’s race showed it. Next Sunday we’re going to run a good race.”