A look at back at some of the key moments in the Belgian's illustrious career
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Boonen in the Belgian National Champion jersey during the 2009 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen's first Paris-Roubaix victory, 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen raises his arms as he realises he has become World Champion in 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alberto Contador, Tom Boonen and two dolphins(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A determined Boonen drills the front of the race(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen attempts to chase Fabian Cancellara during the famous Muur attack in the 2010 Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A visibly upset Boonen following Cancellara's victory at the Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen involved in a huge crash during a sprint at the 2010 Tour de Suisse(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen meets Lance Armstrong for a chat in 2010(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gent-Wevelgem victory 2011(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alessandro Ballan and Tom Boonen during the 2012 E3 Harelbeke(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2012 E3 Harelbeke podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A young Peter Sagan and Tom Boonen go toe-to-toe during the 2012 Gent-Wevelgem(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Cancellara, Boonen and Flecha during the 2010 E3 Prijs Vlaanderen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A second pace was Boonen's best Milan-San Remo result in thirteen attempts(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara during the 2008 E3 Harelbeke(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen was victorious at Paris-Roubaix again in 2008(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Cancellara congratulates Boonen on the Roubaix podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A premature celebration costs Boonen victory to a young Mark Cavendish at Scheldeprijs, 2008(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Vuelta a Espana stage victory 2008(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Fans offer Boonen a beer following the 2009 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A solo breakaway at Paris-Roubaix for Boonen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Patrick Lefevre congratulates Boonen in the Roubaix velodrome(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen's first Belgian National Title, 2009(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2012 Tour of Flanders podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen's silouhette following the 2012 Paris-Roubaix(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A young Peter Sagan edges out Tom Boonen in a 2012 Tour of California stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen during the 2016 E3 Harelbeke(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen puts the hammer down during the 2016 Paris-Roubaix(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mat Hayman victorious at Paris-Roubaix, 2016(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen leads the 2016 Tour de Wallonie(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen and Peter Sagan greet eachother at the GP Montreal(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen thinks what might've been following his 2016 World Championships podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen congratulates the two-time World Champion(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Sagan wins his second World Championships(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen celebrates victory in San Juan, 2017(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A mechanic pushes Boonen away during the 2016 Volta ao Algarve(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen down after a horrific crash at the Abu Dhabi Tour that nearly ended his career(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen celebrates Rund um Koln victory, 2015(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen gets instructions from the team car at the Eneco Tour(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Omega-Pharma Quick-Step on their way to Team Time Trial victory at the 2012 World Championships(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tony Martin and Tom Boonen during the 2012 Team Time Trial World Championships(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mark Cavendish and Tom Boonen become team mates in 2013(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen and Cavendish take the antics to the limit during the 2013 team presentation(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen crashes out of the 2013 Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Geraint Thomas and Tom Boonen during the 2014 Paris-Roubaix(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Cancellara cools down Boonen at the Vuelta a Espana(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The famous 2015 Omloop Het Niuewsblad(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen becomes the first ever rider to win on disc brakes(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen celebrates finishing his first Milan-San Remo in 2003(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen takes refuelling seriously(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
On the Tour de France podium after his stage victory in 2004(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen in the 2002 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne for U.S. Postal Services(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2002 Paris-Roubaix podium. Boonen's first and certainly not last(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen and George Hincapie for U.S. Postal on the pave during a wet Paris-Roubaix, 2002(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen poses with a U.S. Postal Services Trek(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Down time at the 2004 Tour of Qatar(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Showing off the 2005 Paris-Nice leader's jersey(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen celebrates on the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen podiumBoonen's first top-ten of Milan-San Remo. 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen poses for the camera in 2004(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Lance Armstrong, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara ahead of stage 1 at the 2004 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen's first Tour de France stage victory. Stage 20, Paris(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
World Champion Mario Cipollini dwarfs Tom Boonen in the 2003 Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A young Boonen in 1997(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
(L-R) Paolo Bettini, Servais Knaven, Jose Mercado, Richard Virenque, Johan Museeuw and Tom Boonen, 2003(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen just misses out on a podium finish during stage 2 of the 2003 Criterium du Dauphine(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen shows off his bike at the 2003 Vuelta a Espana(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen wears the leaders jersey at the Ruta del Sol after winning the opening stage in 2004(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Messing around in 2004(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A victorious Tom Boonen in the 2004 E3 Harelbeke (then E3 Prijs Vlaanderen)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Gent-Wevelgem 2004 podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen's first Tour of Flanders victory, 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen celebrates crossing the line in the Roubaix velodrome ahead of George Hincapie(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A third consecutive E3 Prijs Vlaanderen in 2006 for Boonen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2006 Tour of Flanders podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen wears the maillot jaune during the 2006 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Bernard Hinault congratulates the race leader at the 2006 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Eneco Tour stage 6 victory for Boonen, 2006(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen inspects a Lamborghini Murcielago(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tour of Qatar victory, 2007(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen attacks the Muur during the 2007 Het Volk(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The sprint during the 2007 Dwars door Vlaanderen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen recces the Poggio in the World Champion's jersey, 2006(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Paris-Nice leader wins stage 2 in 2006(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
2006: Tom Boonen meets Eddy Merckx in Belgium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boonen wears the green jersey during the 2005 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Team time trial, stage 4 of the 2005 Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen and Lance Armstrong in Nancy, France 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2005 Men's World Championship road race podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen and Patrick Lefevre celebrate a successful season at the end of 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
SCUBA diving in the rainbow jersey. Why not?(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
A dolphin and Tom Boonen, Curacao 2005(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
(L-R) Paolo Bettini, Nick Nuyens, Pippo Pozzato and Juan Garate hold up Tom Boonen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The 2007 Tour de France jersey winners(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Boonen burst onto the world cycling stage in 2002 with US Postal Service. At just twenty-one years of age, Boonen rode to an emphatic third place behind Johan Museeuw and Steffen Wesemann in his first, and the one hundredth edition of Paris-Roubaix.
Boonen went on to finish on the podium inside the Roubaix velodrome a total six times, four of which were on the top step – a record only matched by Roger De Vlaeminck. Following a single season with the infamous American team, Boonen joined an earlier incarnation of the Quick-Step Floors team and has remained with Patrick Lefevere and the Belgian team for fifteen seasons.
Complementing the four victories at ‘The Hell of the North', Boonen has also achieved three Tour of Flanders victories, three Gent-Wevelgem victories, five E3 Harelbeke/Prijs Vlaanderen victories, two Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne victories, six Tour de France stages, two Vuelta a Espana stages, a Tour de France Green Jersey, two national titles and a World title to name just some of the highlights of his 16-year career.
As Boonen's career comes to an end, fittingly where it truly begun on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, Cyclingnews takes a look back at some of the highlights, the lows and the greatest victories of Belgium's poster boy.
Let us know your favourite memories of Tom Boonen's career in the comments below.
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