Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) confirmed the good form he showed in the recent Tour of Belgium when he won the 99th edition of the Rund um Köln with a great demonstration of force. Having joined forces with teammate Nikolas Maes, Linus Gerdemann (Cult), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon 18) and Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen) to form a 5-rider group that kept the peloton at bay, he benefited from Maes’ hard work to beat Theuns and Schillinger in the sprint, claiming his second win of the 2015 season.

In January and February, everything was on track for Tom Boonen to return to his classics glory and even though he failed to clock up his usual wins in the Tour of Qatar, he was confident that he would be at his best in the big races on the cobbles. However, it all came to nothing when he injured his shoulder in Paris-Nice and he had to watch his favourite races from the sidelines.

Since then Boonen has gone through a long recovery before he returned to racing in the Tour of Turkey. He used the Giro d’Italia to further build his condition and even though he was never a contender in the bunch sprint, he came strongly out of the Italian grand tour which he left after two weeks.

The UCI granted him a permission to start the Tour of Belgium where he hoped to repeat last year’s success. In 2014 he won two stages and this year his home race was again a happy hunting ground as he opened his account by winning stage 2.

Today Boonen confirmed that he is in great condition as he approaches his big goals at the European Gams and the Belgian Championships when he added the 99th edition of the Rund um Köln to his palmares. Unlike in Belgium where he had been the fastest in a bunch sprint, he used his brute force to come out on top in the German race.

The event has often been decided in a bunch sprint but with 11 climbs in the first part of the race, there was definitely room for some aggressive racing. The teams were keen to make use of the opportunities and as the peloton split on the climbs, an 18-rider front group emerged.

Boonen found himself in the group alongside teammates Nikolas Maes and Petr Vakoc and they worked hard to increase the advantage to 2.45. In the peloton, Giant-Alpecin worked hard to set Marcel Kittel up for a sprint win but they had a hard time getting closer to the leaders.

On the last two climbs, the front group split as Boonen, Maes, Linus Gerdemann, Andreas Schillinger and Edward Theuns took off. Those five riders quickly distanced the rest of the group and still had an advantage of 2.15 when they started the first of the four laps of the flat 6.6km finishing circuit.

Giant-Alpecin worked hard to bring the group back but as the gap was still 1.25 at the start of the final lap, they sat up. Meanwhile, Maes sacrificed himself completely for Boonen to make sure that the Belgian was in the best possible position for the sprint.

Even though Theuns is also a renowned sprinter, Boonen was always the rider to beat and didn’t disappoint. He beat his compatriot in the 5-rider sprint while Schillinger completed the podium. Kittel showed growing condition as he won the bunch sprint but it was only good enough for sixth.

The race was the final major event on German soil in the first half of the year. Apart from the national championships, the next chance for the professionals to show themselves in the country comes in August at the Vattenfall Cyclassics where Boonen could again be a contender.

A mixed course

The 99th Rund um Köln was held on a 196.7km course that brought the riders from Gummersbach to a finish in the centre of Cologne. The first part of the race took the riders through the hilly terrain on the western outskirts of the big German city and included no less than 11 categorized climbs and had 2336m of climbing. The top of the final climb was located 50km from the finish and from there the riders descended to the city centre where they ended the race by doing four laps of a flat 6.6km circuit.

It was a nice day in Germany when the riders took the start. The hilly terrain inspired to aggressive racing and it was a 5-rider group that got clear after the opening skirmishes. Christian Mager (Cult), Maurits Lammertink (Roompot), Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN-Qhubeka), Giacomo Tomio(Roth-Skoda) and Fabian Schormair (Heizomat) got clear but the latter was distanced on the first climb where Niyonshuti led Mager and Lammertink over the top.

The peloton splits

The gap went out to 1.45 but the peloton was in no mood to let them get much of an advantage. At the 42km mark, they had brought it down to 1.10 and moments later it dropped to below the one-minute mark.

The fast pace made the peloton split and the first group quickly reeled the escapees in. After a few riders got dropped, only 23 riders were left.

An 18-rider front group

Another 5 riders were dropped and only Nikolas Maes, Tom Boonen, Petr Vakoc (Etixx-QuickStep), Moreno Hofland, Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon 18), Edward Theuns (Topsport), Linus Gerdemann, Mager, Troels Vinter, Fabian Wegmann (Cult), Michel Kreder, Lammertink (Roompot), Gerald Ciolek, Youcef Reguigui (MTN-Qhubeka), Clement Koretzky (Vorarlberg), Sam Oomen (Rabobank) and Antwan Tolhoek were left as they passed the 80km mark with an advantage of 1.05. The gap went out to 2.45 before Giant-Alpecin and Roth-Skoda managed to stabilize the situation.

Tolhoek was dropped from the front group in the hilly terrain and Mager was also suffering a lot. Meanwhile, the chase efforts started to pay off and the gap was down to 2.30 at the 115km mark.

Five riders gets clear

Mager was the next to get dropped from the front group but he could console himself with the fact that he had won the mountains classification. Meanwhile, the gap had again gone out to 2.45.

On the penultimate climb, Maes, Boonen, Schillinger, Gerdemann and Theuns attacked and they worked hard to build an advantage. Meanwhile, the peloton was now chasing hard and had brought the gap down to 1.45.

The chasers are caught

At the first passage of the finish line, the chasers were 1.15 behind while the peloton was at 2.15. At the second passage, the escapees had gained 50 seconds to the chasers and only lost 5 seconds to the peloton.

The chasers were caught during the second lap and now Roompot had taken control of the peloton. However, they were still 1.45 behind at the start of the penultimate lap.

The peloton gives up

At the start of the final 6.6km lap, the gap was still 1.25 and it was clear that the escapees would stay away. The peloton sat up while Maes sacrificed himself for Boonen.

Theuns was distanced but made it back to the front in time for the 5-rider group to decide the race in a sprint and here it was no surprise to see Boonen come out on top before Kittel led the peloton home to take sixth.