Tom Boonen wins Belgian national road champs

June 28th, 2009 by Al Fresco View Comments

With a superb performance today at Aywaille, Tom Boonen won his first Belgian road championship title, beating out a group of 15 riders after 234.6 spectacular kilometres. It was a battle to the finish with Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) 2nd at the finish and Kristof Goddaert (Top Sport Vlaanderen-Mercator) that took the 3rd position.

On the roads of the national championship race, the entire team QUICK STEP group orchestrated a fantastic race. First Dries Devenyns , then Kevin De Weert and Kevin Seeldraeyers were able to stay in the front of the race, while the rest of the squad stayed close to Boonen. In the final Maarten Wynants and Jurgen Van De Walle allowed Boonen to sprint to victory.

“I’m super happy,” Tom Boonen said. “In the last races, starting from the Tour du Dauphine and from then on to the Elektroer, I felt like I was really improving. I could feel the signs. In the last days leading up to the Belgian Championships I trained a lot and I trained really well. Today I wasn’t among the top favourites, and I knew that in order to win a race like this one I had to be having a great day and not make any mistakes. I did it! Now I’m feeling in top form. I’d like to thank the team once again. My team mates were fantastic. Everyone was motivated and united. It was really beautiful.”

Tags: National Championship, Philippe Gilbert, Quick Step, Silence-Lotto, Tom Boonen