April 3, 2005 – The Flemish, like the French, are forever searching for their next big star. After the long dry road that followed the dominance of Merckx in the 60s and 70s, a succession of mini-stars (who stil remembers Eric Vanderaerden or Edwig Van Hooydonck?) raised expectations, only to disappoint.

The next big star turned out to be a classics-horse: Johan Museeuw, the Lion of Flanders. It is impossible to measure, outside of Flanders, the tremendous grip that Museeuw had on the imagination of Belgian cycling fans. But the old “who’s next?” questions are back, and the 2005 Ronde van Vlaanderen — the first since Museeuw’s retirement last year — turned out to be a contest between two rival princes for the vacant throne.

The race was punctuated by several attacks throughout the day, but the first significant move came from a six-man group that included reigning Paris-Roubaix champ Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi) and Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval). With 70km to go, the group held a two-minute advantage, but began to fall apart. 20km later Backstedt dropped off — no surprise, since the burly Swede had already indicated that he was saving his best form for his title defense at next week’s cobblestone classic.

A counterattack with 50km remaining by an in-form Allessandro Ballan (Lampre), who placed second at the Three Days of De Panne race earlier this week, doomed the leaders with the exception of Zaballa, who somehow found the power to hang on — if only for a handful of kilometers. Riding alone, with a pack that was more consumed with launching attacks than organizing a serious chase, Ballan built his advantage to just under one minute as he crested the Valkenburg, one of the day’s tougher climbs, roughly 30km from the finish.

The relentless attacking out of the front group was having one effect that would play a part in determining the outcome of the race: with each attack, the pack was whittling down, and with 30km to go, the lead pack was down to roughly 30 riders, including many of the favourites: Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), George Hincapie (Discovery), two-time winner Peter Van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto), and Tom Boonen (Quickstep), riding with his hand bandaged from having crashed earlier in the week. If a decisive attack were to go, there wouldn’t be a lot of firepower in what was left in the pack to bring things back together.

As the main group reached the Valkenburg, T-Mobile’s Andreas Klier launched the attack and was quickly joined by Boonen and Van Petegem — after all, the Valkenburg is in Brakel, Van Petegem’s home town and where he still resides, giving him a significant advantage since the climb was added to the course this year for the first time since 1996. Reacting late, Roberto Petito (Fassa Bartolo) and Zabel managed nonetheless to get across to the three attackers. Hincapie (Discovery) did not, inexplicably missing the day’s crucial move and ran out of teammates to help do anything about it, while Lance Armstrong (Discovery) fell off the back of the main bunch on the climb after a spate of work.

Klier, Boonen, Van Petegem and Zabel, no doubt sensing that their move had decided the race, worked well together, while Petito hung on. Ballan also managed to latch on once the group caught him, and the advantage quickly reached close to a minute as the leaders took stock of the situation and prepared to hit the 20% slopes and single-file mayhem of the Muur de Grammont in Geraardsbergen.

Up the climb Van Petegem led, with Petito and Zabel struggling to hold the pace. But as they crested the climb, the two stragglers latched back on. Boonen and Klier were never troubled by Van Petegem’s pace: certainly to his dismay, hard riding by Van Petegem up the day’s feature climb had failed to make a dent in his two main rivals”¦

The tension continued to build as the riders reached the day’s last climb, the Bosberg. At 10km from the finish, the Bosberg — no more than a bump compared to the other climbs on the menu — was the last chance for Van Petegem to ditch the others before a sprint finish that, facing off against riders like Zabel and Boonen, he was almost certain to lose. Attacks by Klier, then a slight counter by Boonen, then a jump by the surprising Petito, were all countered, though Zabel appeared to be in some difficulty. Then Van Petegem made his final attack, the most significant of the climb. Opening a gap but unable to push it any further he cancelled the effort, but Boonen had been on his wheel and followed Van Petegem’s effort with an attack of his own. Van Petegem tried to recover but couldn’t.

In the high-stakes poker of classics riding, Boonen had played his cards perfectly and was all in when the river card was dealt. Using Van Petegem’s attack to wedge a little time between himself and the chasers, Boonen proceeded to grind out a solid advantage by the last kilometer mark. Overcome with emotion as he added the most important Belgian classic to his win at Gand-Wevelgem last year, Boonen had lived up to the high expectations and, despite a crash-laden two-week run-up to the event, had delivered a stylish, dominating win. Flanders will have to wait for another Merckx, but they may have found a new Lion.

Klier jumped away from a disillusioned Van Petegem to finish second and third, respectively. Hincapie — the day’s biggest loser, considering his expectations and his team’s obvious firepower — shook his head in disgust as he won what was left of a bunch sprint for seventh.

Tour of Flanders
1. Tom Boonen (BEL ) Quick Step 06:22:49
2. Andreas Klier (GER) T-Mobile + 0:33
3. Peter Van Petegem (BEL) Davitamon-Lotto + 0:43
4. Erik Zabel (GER) T-Mobile + 0:43
5. Roberto Petito (ITA) Fassa Bortolo + 0:43
6. Alessandro Ballan (ITA) Lampre-Caffita + 0:43
7. George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel + 1:43
8. Leon Van Bon (NED) Davitamon-Lotto + 1:43
9. Sergei Ivanov (RUS) T-Mobile + 1:43
10. Vladimir Gusev (RUS) Team CSC + 1:43
11. Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP) Fassa Bortolo + 1:43
12. Karsten Kroon (NED) Rabobank + 1:43