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 the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Boonen won the 2005 UCI World Road Race Championships, and was a single-day road specialist with a strong finishing sprint. He won the cycling monuments Paris–Roubaix 4 times and the Tour of Flanders 3 times, among many other prestigious victories, such as prevailing 5 times in the E3 Harelbeke, winning 6 stages of the Tour de France and winning the Overall title of the Tour of Qatar 4 times. Career Early years At the start of 2002 Boonen rode for , finishing third in Paris–Roubaix after an early breakaway. Fellow Belgian Johan Museeuw had escaped to a solo victory. Team captain George Hincapie crashed in a slippery section of the course leaving Boonen to ride for himself. Boonen's performance led Museeuw – his childhood hero – to declare Boonen his successor. Boonen said US Postal did not give him enough chances to ride for himself. Towards the end of the year he said he would leave, despite being under contract, and joined at the start of 2003. The 2003 season, however, did not go well, with lacklustre performance due to fatigue and knee injury. Museeuw was team leader for the spring classics. During the 2004 season Boonen won the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Gent–Wevelgem and the Scheldeprijs. He also won two stages of the Tour de France including the final stage in Paris, as Museeuw did in 1990. 2005: Winning Ronde, Roubaix and Worlds In 2005 Boonen won the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix and the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, and came second in the Omloop "Het Volk" behind teammate Nick Nuyens. He was first to win the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, and the World Cycling Championship in the same season. In the Tour of Flanders Boonen appeared to be the strongest sprinter in the final group. However, he attacked a few kilometers from the finish to the surprise of others and stayed away. Erik Dekker 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 the coming years". In Paris–Roubaix, Boonen entered the velodrome in the leading trio, and waited until