Boom receives hero welcome

Dutchman Lars Boom received a hero's welcome upon returning to his home town of Vlijmen last night, after the Rabobank rider claimed the Elite Men's Cyclo-cross World Championship at the weekend. Boom returned to the Netherlands from Treviso in Italy, where he won the world title on Sunday.

Boom was greeted by thousands of adoring fans at the civic reception at the town hall, with hundreds of local children lining to meet their local hero while supporters lit flares. A spokesperson for the municipality announced that Boom would be given a tree to plant at a location of his chosing in his honour. "So men a hundred years from now know who he is," said the spokesman.

The Dutchman is the latest cyclo-cross star to receive a hero's welcome upon returning home, on Monday Under 23 World Cyclo-cross Champion Niels Albert and Sven Nys, who finished third to Boom and Zdenek Stybar in the weekend's Elite Men's race, were honoured in the Belgian province of Tremelo.