Categories: AwardsAwesome Belgian GuysThe Hardmen

2012 V-Moment of the Year: Boonen Goes Long

Boonen goes long. Photo via Cycling Weekly

Yes, I know, I have a major thing for Boonen. But come on, wouldn’t you? Look at those guns. Look at that position on the bike. He even makes that ugly Specialized helmet look good. He even makes that ugly Specialized Roubaix look good, come to think of it. And those White Ladies? Kill me now.

Picking the V-Moment of the year is always a tough one, especially in a year when there were so many great moments. In fact, that I’m glad I didn’t get saddled with the Anti-V Moment of the Year Award because it won’t be easy to pick out a loser for that one.

Some of the greatest instants of the season were Johan Vansummeren continuing on after he went through the meat grinder at the Tour. Or Hesjedal hanging tough on the Stelvio to stay close enough to J-Rod to take the win for the first Canuckian Grand Tour at the Giro. Faboo gritting his teeth to finish the Olympic ITT in tears despite a moronic but devastating crash in the Road Race. Gilbert coming back to take a decisive win in the Worlds Road Race after a disastrous season.

Maybe its my man-crush on Boonen, maybe its the fact that we were at the roadside for both events, but two moments stand out as what must have been two of the hardest moments in racing – with the most at stake. One was Boonen riding the Paterberg at the back of the three-man breakaway with Ballan and Potato during the Ronde van Vlaanderen; his gears were jammed and he couldn’t get into his lowest gear on that brutally steep climb. As the group got to the top, Boonen was overgeared and losing ground. Standing in a Flemish field not more than 1000 meteres (as the crow flies) from the Paterberg, I could almost hear his bike cry out in agony as he scraped the bottom of the V-Barrel to hold onto the back of the group.

But that’s not the V-Moment of the year because, in the end, there was only something to be gained by holding on – he had nothing to lose. If he got unhitched from the group, he would have called it training for Roubaix, and gone home feeling good about his chances in the Queen of the Classics.

The V-Moment of the year was instead a moment that wasn’t captured on camera; it was a solitary moment that echoed inside only one man’s heart. It was a moment that must have fluttered through his mind as he came off the secteur of cobbles about 55k from Roubaix, looked around, and noticed that no one was with him. At that moment, he had everything to lose. A wiser man would have sat up and waited for the group, knowing he could conserve his energy and pick his moment later, when the risks were more manageable.

But The V isn’t about sensibility. The V isn’t about planning. The V isn’t about calculation. The V is about making your own luck. The V is about bending the odds to your vvill. The V is about making the race beg you to relent. The 2012 V Moment of the Year was the moment Boonen decided to carry on to Roubaix, alone.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

the Engine says:

Dec 27 2012 at 4:17 pm

@graham d.m.

https://twitter.com/tomboonen1

RT @velominati V isn't about sensibility or calculation. V is about bending the odds to your vvill.Boonen: http://bit.ly/UttaWM @tomboonen1

Retweeted by tom boonen

That'll teach me to check my Twitter account more than quarterly - what about a whip round for a V Pint and a decal - you never know the team publicity people just might let him stick one on his winter training steed.
snoov says:

Dec 27 2012 at 5:12 pm

That's what the winner get's, A V-Pint glass. Last year Jonny H said he'd put it in his pool room.
snoov says:

Dec 27 2012 at 5:15 pm

Hmmm, I seem to be mistaken about that. What did Hoogerland get his V-pint glass for or am I remembering a dream?
snoov says:

Dec 27 2012 at 5:16 pm

http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/rule-5-racing-hoogerland-style/
G'rilla says:

Dec 27 2012 at 5:57 pm

@eightzero I think Boonen deserves to have his pint hand delivered to him by the Velominati at KT2013.
Jay says:

Dec 27 2012 at 6:24 pm

@brett

@brett

@Jay

@brett

@windy rider

@itburns

I wouldn't worry about what Frank says about ugly bikes; he rides a Cervelo after all.

I too ride a Roubaix and find it to be an exceptional bike. Don't disparage another's ride unless you have ridden in their shoes, so to speak. If we all thought the same way, there would only be one choice of bike (or at the very least a much more limited selection). So long as the bike is compliant with the Rules does it matter otherwise?

I owned two Roubaixs. And I didn't write the article. And Cervelos are ugly.

Touche'
harminator says:

Dec 27 2012 at 6:38 pm

@G'rilla

@eightzero I think Boonen deserves to have his pint hand delivered to him by the Velominati at KT2013.

Yes!

Perhaps Minion should present it to him right after repeating his statement above.
Gianni says:

Dec 27 2012 at 9:25 pm

@minion

And I didn't say Roubaix's were ugly bikes, I said he looks like a monkey humping a tennis ball.

Ha! I like that. I believe the photo is of the much disliked, @pedale disapproved, super wide angle shot that makes the great Tomeke look like a monkey fucking a tennis ball.

He looks a little more stretched out here
Dan_R says:

Dec 27 2012 at 9:52 pm

@minion Sir Hoy is a fucking machine!
Dan_R says:

Dec 27 2012 at 10:02 pm

@strathlubnaig

@Dan_R

@Tobin

@Dan_R small consolidation is that Ryder did win the Lionel Conacher for 2012. Plus, without the Leafs to broadcast, TSN has to figure out an alternative way to aggravate the country.

Yeah, I just that on the Toronto Sports Network! Of course, ask an average Canadian who Lionel Conacher is and you'll get a blank stare. Even in Toronto!

For the Americans in the crowd, he's our version of Jim Thorpe, but he played more sports... so better.

Yep, bon choix Canada.... was there ever any real alternative to Ryder though ? Pleased for the lad.

You never know in Canadian sports media. Canadians don't always get that hockey is only watches by a few hundred million people, where as cycling has about a billion fans - based on unique google searches that is. With the hype surrounding Wiggo's plan to go after the Giro, it seems to me that even the cycling media is writing off Ryder's chance of a defence. By all means bring it I say. Contador and Purito, Nibbs. The whole bunch should be striving to take the Giro from RH