A day after losing Het Volk, Tom Boonen took revenge in Sunday’s Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne.

The Quick Step-Innergetic captain took an emotional sprint victory to earn a valuable confidence-booster in the opening weekend of Belgian racing. Gert Steegmans gave him a perfect leadout and Boonen dramatically finished off the job to finish ahead of Marcel Sieberg (Milram).

“Winning in Belgium always gives me a special buzz,” Boonen said. “I wasn’t sure how things would go today after yesterday’s falls as I was still suffering with a bit of a backache at the beginning of the race. My teammates were fantastic and I just had to sprint the final 150 meters. This win today is a team effort that certainly boosts team spirit and morale.”

Boonen’s sixth win of the year came a day after the 2005 world champion suffered cramps in the late going and was out-punched by Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) in Het Volk. With better weather Sunday, his Quick Step cohorts did fine work to control the pace of the otherwise-chaotic K-B-K to set up a sprint.

The day was marked by a seven-man breakaway featuring such riders as Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel) and Stuart O’Grady (CSC). The leaders nursed a two-minute lead on the Tiegemberg climb with 60km to go, but Quick Step led the peloton to reel in the breakaway with just 5km to go.

Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne
Top 10
1 Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 4:29:50
2. Marcel Sieberg (G), Team Milram, same time
3. Iljo Keisse (B), Chocolade Jacques, s.t.
4. Sébastien Chavanel (F), Française Des Jeux, s.t.
5. Gert Steegmans (B), Quick Step–Innergetic, s.t.
6. Kenny Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano, s.t.
7. Tomas Vaitkus (Lit), Discovery Channel, s.t.
8. Frédéric Amorison (B), Landbouwkrediet, s.t.
9. Tyler Farrar (USA), Cofidis, s.t.
10. Geoffroy Lequatre (F), Cofidis, s.t.
Past winners1945 - Valère Olivier (B) 1946 - Henri Delmuylle (B) 1947 - André Pieters (B) 1948 - Achiel Buysse (B) 1949 - Albert Decin (B) 1950 - Valère Olivier (B) 1951 - André Declercq (B) 1952 - André Maelbrancke (B) 1953 - Leopold Degraevelyn (B) 1954 - Leon Vandaele (B) 1955 - Jos Planckaert (B) 1956 - Henri Denys (B) 1957 - Jef Verhelst (B) 1958 - Gilbert Desmedt (B) 1959 - Gentil Saelens (B) 1960 - Jef Planckaert (B) 1961 - Léon Vandaele (B) and Fred De Bruyne (B) 1962 - Piet Rentmeester (Nl) 1963 - Noël Foré (B) 1964 - Arthur Decabooter (B) 1965 - Guido Reybrouck (B) 1966 - Gustaaf Desmet (B) 1967 - Daniel Van Ryckeghem (B) 1968 - Eric Leman (B) 1969 - Freddy Decloedt (B) 1970 - Roger De Vlaeminck (B) 1971 - Roger De Vlaeminck (B) 1972 - Gustaaf Van Roosbroeck (B) 1973 - Walter Planckaert (B) 1974 - Wilfried Wesemael (B) 1975 - Frans Verhaeghen (B) 1976 - Frans Verhaeghen (B) 1977 - Patrick Sercu (B) 1978 - Patrick Lefevere (B) 1979 - Walter Planckaert (B) 1980 - Jan Raas (Nl) 1981 - Jos Jacobs (B) 1982 - Gregor Braun (G) 1983 - Jan Raas (Nl) 1984 - Jos Lammertink (Nl) 1985 - William Tackaert (B) 1986 - (Cancelled) 1987 - Ludo Peeters (B) 1988 - Hendrik Redant (B) 1989 - Edwig Van Hooydonck (B) 1990 - Hendrik Redant (B) 1991 - Johnny Dauwe (B) 1992 - Olaf Ludwig (G) 1993 - (Cancelled) 1994 - Johan Museeuw (B) 1995 - Frédéric Moncassin (F) 1996 - Rolf Sørensen (Dk) 1997 - Johan Museeuw (B) 1998 - Andrei Tchmil (B) 1999 - Jo Planckaert (B) 2000 - Andrei Tchmil (B) 2001 - Peter Van Petegem (B) 2002 - Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) 2003 - Roy Sentjens (Nl) 2004 - Steven de Jongh (Nl) 2005 - George Hincapie (USA)2006 - Nick Nuyens (B) 2007 - Tom Boonen (B) By country
Belgium – 50Netherlands – 6 Germany – 2 USA – 1 Estonia – 1 France – 1 Denmark – 1

Muraglia takes Almería; Mazzati wins Lugano
Italian Giuseppe Muraglia gave Acqua & Sapone a win on Spanish roads after out-sprinting Eduard Vorganov (Karpin-Galicia) and Vicente Ballester (Fuerteventura) in Sunday’s 22nd Clásica de Almería.

The race was marked by several breakaways, including one featuring David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) that peeled away over the Alto de Las Hortichuelas on the day’s second climb. There was some confusion in a round-about that threw off the tempo of the main pack and four riders extracted themselves for the winning quartet.

In Switzerland, meanwhile, Italian Lucca Mazzanti delivered victory for Panaria-Navigare in the GP Lugano. He bolted ahead of Evgeni Petrov (Tinkoff) to snag the win.