The 89th edition of the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

cycling classic The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

saw the emergence of

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...

in the Flemish classics.

Race overview

This edition was run under clear skies and good weather. Even past the feared

Muur van Geraardsbergen The Muur van Geraardsbergen (English: ''Wall of Geraardsbergen/Grammont'', French: ''Mur de Grammont'') is a steep, narrow road with cobblestones in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. It is also known as Kapelmuur, Muur-Kapelmuur or simply Muur. The hil ...

there were still a handful of riders in the front group: favorites

(Quick Step-Innergetic) and

Peter Van Petegem Peter van Petegem (born 18 January 1970 in Brakel, Belgium) is a former professional road racing cyclist. Van Petegem last rode for Quick Step-Innergetic, in 2007. He lived in Horebeke. He was a specialist in spring classics, one of ten riders t ...

(Davitamon-Lotto),

Erik Zabel Erik Zabel (; born 7 July 1970) is a German former professional road bicycle racer who raced most of his career with Telekom. With 152 professional wins and 211 wins in his career, he is considered by some to be one of the greatest German cycl ...

and

Andreas Klier Andreas Klier (born 15 January 1976) is a retired German professional road racing cyclist. He competed professionally between 1996 and 2013. Klier moved into a managerial role with his final professional team, , after announcing his retirement a ...

(T-Mobile),

Roberto Petito Roberto Petito (born 1 February 1971) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. Petito was born in Civitavecchia. His most important win came in 1997, when he won the Tirreno–Adriatico. He has also finished in the top five in cl ...

(Fassa Bortolo), and

Alessandro Ballan Alessandro Ballan (born 6 November 1979 in Castelfranco Veneto, Veneto) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI World Tour team . He is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships, in 200 ...

(Lampre). Klier set the tempo to keep the group together for a final sprint, hoping for Zabel to win. Given Boonen's reputation as a sprinter, he surprised his adversaries by launching a solo attack in the run-in to the finish to counter van Petegem's attack, after the

Bosberg The Bosberg (English: ''Forest Hill'') is a hill in the Pajottenland in Belgium with its top located on the border of East Flanders and Flemish Brabant. The road leading to the top is surfaced in concrete in the lower parts and cobbled in the stee ...

climb. Despite being chased by the two T-Mobile riders, he managed to take a solo win to

Meerbeke Meerbeke is a village in the Denderstreek in the province of East Flanders in Belgium. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Ninove. This rural community is located along the Dender River on the western border of what is known as "Pajo ...

General standings

;3 April 2005, Brugge-Meerbeke, 256 km.:

References

External links

Race website

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

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