He is back! At 45, Tom Boonen will make his debut as a sports director for Soudal-Quick Step this Friday, March 27 at the E3 Saxo Classic. “Tommeke” will be in the team car with his former teammate Niki Terpstra, to lead Jasper Suyven or Dylan Van Baarle among others.
Joining the team of Patrick Lefevere in 2003, he raced there for 14 years before retiring in 2017. In his illustrious career, he notably won Paris-Roubaix four times (2005, 2008, 2009, and 2012), the Tour of Flanders (2005, 2006, and 2012) and Gent-Wevelgem (2004, 2011, and 2012) three times, was crowned world champion (2005), and raised his arms in victory six times in the Tour de France.
The legendary Belgian rider is thus taking his first steps as a sports director in a race he knows by heart and particularly appreciates. In fact, he has won the E3 Saxo Classic five times (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2012), which was called E3 Prijs Vlaanderen at the time. “The team boss, Jurgen ForAcopy;, called me to see if we could do something together, without defining an official role in the team. I still don’t know if I will be happy back in the race, that’s why I’m doing it now,” he explained on the Live Slow Ride Fast podcast.
