Belgian champion Johan Museeuw takes the first of three Tours of Flanders in 1993. (Image credit: Sirotti)
Image 28 of 30
Freddy Maertens capped a glorious comeback in 1981 by winning the Tour's green jersey (Image credit: AFP)
Image 29 of 30
Belgium's Rik Van Steenbergen won in 1954 (Image credit: AFP)
Image 30 of 30
Jaan Kirsipuu (CKT Tmit - Champion System) was third on the stage. (Image credit: John Pierce - PhotoSport Int'l / Tour of China)
It's been a long time coming, and perhaps a little overdue, but Tom Boonen finally broke through for his 100th victory in Paris-Nice on Monday to write himself into the history books alongside the esteemed names of Eddy Merckx, Sean Kelly and Alessandro Petacchi, among others.
Having earned the moniker 'Tornado Tom' when he seemed invincible in the early and mid 2000s, it's a sign of the strength of the next generation of sprinters in Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), Mark Cavendish (Sky) and more recently Andrea Guardini (Farnese-Vini) that things had somewhat stalled for the big Belgian in recent years.
Fittingly however, he has made the milestone at a time when he seems back to his devastating best. Cyclingnews presents a photo montage of the Belgian's career victories to date, along with some of the elite company he joins in the '100 Club'.
To put Boonen's achievement in perspective, Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Fausto Coppi, Djamolidine Abduzhaparov have all had less than 100 professional wins.
Boonen's key victories include a world road race title in 2005, two Tours of Flanders, three Paris-Roubaix, two wins at Gent-Wevelgem, as well as six stages of the Tour de France.
Cyclingnews Newsletter
Sign up to the Cyclingnews Newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how to do this, and how we hold your data, please see our privacy policy
Thank you for signing up to Cycling News. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.