Boonen wins Paris-Roubaix

Boonen came through in a dramatic finale which saw three potential champions crash inside the final 18km.

"Without a doubt this has been the hardest," said Boonen, who crashedearly in the race and had to carry out a frantic change of bike with29km to go as he and five other frontrunners drove for the finish line.

He made the decisive break with 46km to go to see off Italian Filippo Pozzato by some 47sec andNorwegian Thor Hushovd by over one minute.

Australian-born German contender Heinrich Haussler, of Cervelo andQuick Step leader Boonen were pivotal in the final third of the racewhere they took turns in forcing the pace in a bid to drop theirrespective rivals.

After much tactical coming and going after a 10-man breakaway hadbeen caught inside the final 70km Boonen increased the tempo on theMons-en-Pevele cobbled sector, the 10th last of the 27 in the race,taking five potential winners along for the ride.

The Belgian's move left him isolated, but perhaps that was the priceto pay for dropping all three Saxo Bank riders - Fabian Cancellara, the2006 winner, Matti Breschel and Kasper Klostergaard - whose presence inthe larger group minutes earlier had posed a major threat to his bid towin the race for a third time.

In Hushovd, Pozzato and Juan Antonio Flecha of Spain, Boonen had some quality rivals for company.

Pozzato, whose marking of Boonen during the Tour of Flanders lastweek effectively stymied the Belgian's bid for a third win there, waslooking especially strong.

It took him two full-on kilometres to catch back on to the lead group, which by now had a lead of nearly 1:30 on their pursuers.

With 17.5km remaining all collaboration appeared to have come to anend when Flecha, a two-time podium finisher, pulled ahead of the grouptaking Johan Van Summeren of Silence with him.

Less than a kilometre further on the victory hopes of Flecha, VanSummeren and Silence teammate Leif Hoste and Hushovd bit the dust indramatic fashion as the Spaniard went too fast into a left hand bendand crashed to the ground.

Boonen just managed to avoid the carnage as Hoste hit the ground and Van Summeren waited for his teammate.

That left Hushovd alone up front with Boonen, but just as their duelappeared to be emerging disaster struck Hushovd, the Norwegian hittingthe ground after clashing with the barriers on a tight left-hand bend.

"If I hadn't had this stupid crash I would have been with him (Boonen)into the velodrome and sprinted with him and either won or camesecond," said Hushovd.

"If I'd lost to Tom because he wasstrong in the sprint then its okay, but today I lost because I had astupid crash and that's hard for me.

"I'm really disappointed. It's hard for me to forget this moment."

Boonen was left on his own to ride through the throngs of Flemishfans with 15km to go, but on his wheel only 100m behind Pozzato emergedfrom the dust in what proved a vain attempt to catch him.

"Paris-Roubaix is just one long day. And the important thing is not todie, you must survive, survive, survive and save as much energy aspossible," said the 29-year-old Boonen, who began the racesuper-motivated after seeing teammate Stijn Devolder fly to victory inFlanders last week.

"For me, I've already had a good season so far but this is really the cherry on the cake."

Marring the race was an accident which left ten people hurt, threeof them seriously, caused when a motorbike crashed into fans lining theroute near the northern town of Orchies.

"A motorbike from the race organisation struck the crowd," aspokesman for Lille emergency services told AFP, saying he had nofurther details on the extent of the injuries.

General classification:

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 6.15.53 (42.343 km/h), 2 Filippo Pozzato(Ita) Team Katusha, 3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team, 4 LeifHoste (Bel) Silence-Lotto, 5 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Silence-Lotto, 6Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank, 7 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) CerveloTest Team, 8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step, 9 Manuel Quinziato(Ita) Liquigas, 10 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank.