The Life Cycle of Tom Boonen

So, that's Tom Boonen's third win of the season, equalling his record from last year. If things follow their traditional pattern we should soon see numerous interviews with Tornado Tommeke in which he claims to be back on the form that made him famous back in 2005, after which he'll win nothing else for the rest of the year, and the whole cycle will begin again next season.

Except...

He's beaten Andrea Guardini, Tyler Farrar and Adam Blythe into second place for his wins this season, and been put into second place only by Mark Cavendish and Francesco Chicchi. That's some rarefied company he's keeping. More importantly, it was Boonen's efforts that smashed the main field to pieces today, and he was part of the group that did that rarest of deeds and hauled back an attack from Fabian Cancellara. Call me crackers, but maybe he really is back on his old form?

You watch - now I've said that, he'll be caught in a  Qatari nightclub with a hooter full of gak by the end of the week.