Boonen's win "pure grunt" says Sunderland

"Boonen showed again today that he is a one-day specialist. Tom's labelled to be a sprinter because he wins stages in the major Tours with ease, but on top of that he's one of the few 'sprinters' who wins big classics. I consider him to be a classics rider. The way he almost turned his bike inside out during that sprint, that is pure grunt! That's the way he won Flanders and Roubaix," said Team CSC directeur-sportif Scott Sunderland, who was co-commentator during Cyclingnews' live coverage of the elite men's road race.

"After seeing Boonen kicking arse in those classics, it was no surprise that he was the only 'sprinter' still there for the final today. What was a surprise, though, is that he was able to ride like he did at the end of a long season, after an intense spring campaign, the bad luck and injuries in the Tour and the quiet lead-up to the World's during which he played his cards close to the chest. That really shows his depth of talent. The race went his way and Tom finished his team's work off impeccably. I'm impressed.

"Valverde actually was the biggest surprise to me; especially after getting so little racing in [he sustained a knee injury in the Tour - ed.]. Geslin is another one. I was pleased to see that Marcus Ljungvist [4th] is back to his good old self. I'm looking forward to working with him in the team next year.

"One Australian rider whose presence I really missed was O'Grady. The Australian selectors should have thought twice about not taking him. The other guys did a great job for McEwen, no doubt about that. But we saw that the race was too hard for the pure sprinters. I've always thought this parcours was something which suited O'Grady extremely well. Look at Italy - luckily they had Bettini.

"I was exited about seeing Allan Davis in that break though. But he must have had a lesser day today; I know he normally has the ability to hang in there with Bettini and the others. A pity he couldn't."