Back to the beginning

In a country which prides itself on its Classics stars, who become the focal point of Belgium’s sporting world each spring, it takes something quite special to reach the top of the pedestal, though Boonen seemed destined to be Belgium’s next Classics hero from very early on.

Boonen entered the professional peloton just as Johan Museeuw, the Lion of Flanders was preparing to leave it. At the 100^th edition of Paris-Roubaix in 2002 – Boonen’s debut race – the then 21-year-old, riding for US Postal as a neo-pro finished third, announcing his arrival as Belgium’s next big star, in a race won for the third time by Museeuw.

The following year, Boonen and Museeuw were racing together at the newly-formed QuickStep-Davitamon and, after an injury-hit first 12 months, the young Boonen was soon realising his potential.

Victory at E3 come in 2004, then Gent-Wevelgem and Scheldeprijs, and in 2005 he went even better – becoming the first man to win the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championship in the same year.

His domination was such that Rabobank’s Erik Dekker reportedly said: “I’m happy that I am near the end of my career, since with a cyclist like Boonen the Spring Classics will be rather boring in the coming years.”

As if to prove the point, Boonen won at Flanders again the following year. But Dekker had reckoned against one thing… enter Spartacus.

First blood Boonen

After Cancellara’s solo victory at Paris-Roubaix, the seeds of his and Boonen’s rivalry had been sown and they went wheel-to-wheel again at E3 Harelbeke in 2007.

This time, however, there would be no late escape by Cancellara and the Belgian triumphed in the sprint.

While neither managed to bag a Monument win that year, Boonen was successful again in 2008 – outsprinting Cancellara and Alessandro Ballan in the final 500m to win Paris-Roubaix.

On that occasion, it was Cancellara – winner of Milan-San Remo weeks earlier – who instigated the winning move, blasting clear of an elite selection.

Boonen on Cancellara

 “The thing with Fabian is that, when we are both in shape, we are pretty similar. The only difference is that he has a little more endurance and I am a little faster. I think what I would like to have from him, he would like to have from me. But they are both weapons.

 “Mostly though, I’m really happy that I have been fighting against a big rider like Fabian Cancellara my entire career. I consider it an honour actually, and I think we put on a good race. He never fights or complains. He is great to race against.” Bicycling 2012

Boonen followed the move, and the two – alongside Ballan, who also latched on – worked well together to keep the chasers at bay.

Expectations of a Cancellara attack on the Carrefour de l’Arbre failed to materialise – Boonen later telling reporters ‘Cancellara had cramps up until his ears’.

It played into Tommeke’s hands, and he kicked hardest in the Roubaix Velodrome to seal his second victory in the Hell of the North.

“If one us would attack, the other one would chase him down,” commented Cancellara. “We were the two big favourites and the fact that we were there in the finale meant a lot to me.”

With Cancellara – by then Olympic time trial champion – out-of-form the following spring, Boonen then added his third Paris-Roubaix title in 2009.

2010: Spartacus storms back

Fabian Cancellara started the 2010 season in fine form, winning the Tour of Oman, and he carried that form into the spring.

Boonen got a taste of things to come at E3 when, with the two leading with Juan Antonio Flecha, Cancellara jumped clear to take a solo victory.

At the Tour of Flanders, however, one of the most defining images of their rivalry came to pass after Cancellara again ignited the race with a burst of pace on the Molenberg.

With 44km still to race, Cancellara, in the Swiss national champion’s jersey, and Boonen, sporting the colours of Belgian national champion, were clear of the chasing pack.

They led the way onto the Muur together, but Cancellara kicked again as they rounded a corner on the cobbled part of the climb and motored away from his rival.

Boonen had no answer – and his compatriots in the Sporza TV commentary booth were seemingly lost for words too – ‘AiyAiyAiyAiyAiyAiyAiy’ the best the co-commentator could muster.

Cancellara could not be caught, and entered the record books as just the 12^th man to win Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in a career – Boonen has never won the former.

And he wasn’t finished there either – just a week later, Cancellara bolted clear of the peloton on the Mons-en-Pevele secteur of pave at Paris-Roubaix, and won solo by more than two minutes.

Such was the power of Spartacus, allegations of mechanical doping and motorised bikes were thrown at the Swiss rider – something he has always denied, and a matter on which the UCI insisted he had no case to answer.

Cancellara’s treble

Lady luck, of course, promptly switched allegiance in 2013 and it was Boonen who suffered the injury and illness.

A serious infection affected the start of his season, before crashes at Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders forced him to retire and ultimately miss Paris-Roubaix with a broken rib.

Boonen and Cancellara did vie for supremacy at E3 Harelbeke though, with Boonen igniting the race on the Taaienberg and Cancellara bridging across as an elite front group formed.

Boonen kicked again on the Paterberg, with Cancellara following, and only six men remained in the front group off the climb.

Cancellara shot clear, still sat in the saddle, on the Oude Kwaremont and went on to solo to victory while Boonen lost touch with the chasing group.

And Spartacus followed it up with another attack on Oude Kwaremont at the Tour of Flanders, before ridding himself of Peter Sagan – the only man to mark his move – on the Paterberg to solo to another victory.

Boonen’s victories at the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix the previous year had made him the first man to do the double twice in a career, but Cancellara soon joined him by following up his 2013 Flanders win with another triumph at Roubaix.

Who was better?

How do you judge ‘better’? Both men have won a record-equaling three Tour of Flanders titles, but Boonen has four Paris-Roubaix wins to Cancellara’s three.

Boonen has also won five times at E3 Harelbeke, to Cancellara’s three and Spartacus has never won at Gent-Wevelgem, a race much more suited to Tommeke given the latter’s sprinting prowess.

Cancellara does, however, have the Milan-San Remo title to his name, which Boonen doesn’t – giving them both a career total of seven Monument wins with the chance to add to that at this year’s Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Will that be the crowning glory?

That said, Boonen has another ace up his sleeve, having also worn the rainbow jersey though – the world road race title having eluded Cancellara on several occasions.

Despite their dominance, both riders have different attributes and it would be unfair to compare Boonen’s sprinting with Cancellara’s, or Cancellara’s time trialling with Boonen’s, so in the Classics alone perhaps it is enough to simply say the two together, at their peak, were the best by far.

What next?

As Cancellara closes the final chapter in his career, and Boonen’s own time in the professional peloton approaches the end, who is next in line to the throne?

There are a number of contenders, not least Peter Sagan, 26, who has already won twice at Gent-Wevelgem, once at E3 Harelbeke and been in the top-five at the Tour of Flanders on three occasions. Can the world champion break his Monument duck this year?

Defending Tour of Flanders champion Alexander Kristoff, 28, is also proving a formidable force in the Spring Classics – also winning Milan-San Remo in 2014 and enjoying multiple top-ten finishes at Roubaix and Flanders.

Though injured this year, after his training camp crash, John Degenkolb, 27, has already won Gent-Wevelgem, Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo and finished in the top ten at E3 Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders too.

Those three, alongside last year’s third-place finisher at both Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, 30-year-old Greg van Avermaet, and Boonen’s team-mate Niki Terpstra, 31, Paris-Roubaix winner in 2014 and Flanders runner-up last year, will be among the contenders for years to come.

And is Lotto-Soudal’s Tiesj Benoot the next big thing? The 22-year-old has proven to be a natural on the cobbles, finishing fifth at the Tour of Flanders in 2015, his first year as a fully-fledged, and already notching up top tens this spring campaign at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and E3 Harelbeke.

But whatever comes next, it will take some doing to match the show put on by Cancellara and Boonen, and the special rivalry the pair, the finest Classics riders of their generation, have enjoyed over the past decade. Let’s enjoy the final races between the two and the fireworks they may bring.