2009 Flandrian Awards
 Het Nieuwsblad Flandrian Honors:  Mark Cavendish, Grace Verbeke, Philippe Gilbert, Kris Boeckmans, Kevin De Jonghe and Martijn Degreve... Photos

Flandrien Honorees: Mark Cavendish, Martijn Degreve, Kevin De Jonghe, Grace Verbeke, Martijn Degreve and a representative for Philippe Gilbert.  Photo © 2009 Yoni Peeters

Columbia-HTC's Mark Cavendish has won the prestigious International Flandrian of the Year prize in Belgium. In a ceremony broadcast live on Belgian television and organised by newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

A jury of team managers, sports directors and media personalities voted for Cavendish and the others to be honored during the awards, Cavendish was chosen  as top international cyclist of the year.

Mark Cavendish with his "Flandrien" trophy.   Photo © 2009 Yoni Peeters

"It's a tremendous honour to get this award," Cavendish said afterwards, "something really important to me. You just look at the names of the people who've received this prize before, like Fabian Cancellara last year, and you can see how special it really is.

As a kid I would watch Belgian bike races for hours on TV, and I love racing there now because the Belgians have a real appreciation for cycling and cyclists. But I could never have dreamed of getting an award like this one day, and it's a real honour to receive it."

Cavendish followed in the footsteps of 2008 winner Swiss Fabian Cancellara. The 24-year-old sprinter has won 25 races this season, including Milan-Sanremo and 6 stages of the Tour de France. He has also won stages in the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Switzerland, the Three Days of De Panne and Tirreno-Adriatico... a remarkable year for the self proclaimed fastest man in the world.

The lovely Miss Grace Verbeke of Lotto/Belisol. Photo © 2009 Yoni Peeters

Cavendish was joined on the stage by the other winners: Grace Verbeke a Lotto/Belisol rider won the award as top woman,  was overjoyed with the award and fought back her tears of joy in accepting the trophy from a personal heroine Leontien van Moorsel.

Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) was voted best Belgian rider of the year. The winner of the Tour of Lombardy won ahead of Tom Boonen and Stijn Devolder. He succeeds his teammate Greg Van Avermaet the winner last year. Best Belgian riders in other categories went to Kris Boeckmans -Espoir,  Kevin De Jonghe -Junior, and Martijn Degreve (beginners).

Still in Italy Phillippe Gilbert responded via satellite, "This is an important trophy. It's beautiful. I have the results this year, and it is appreciated by the rest of the bunch. I attach great importance to the award."

Philippe Gilbert, 27, had the best season of his career in  2009 winning a stage of the Tour of Italy, a stage and the final ranking of the Ster Elektrotoer and closed the season  impressing with 4 victories in the final ten days of the season: Paris-Tours, Coppa Sabatini, the Giro del Piemonte,  and the monument Giro di Lombardia. The Walloon finished 6th in World of Mendrisio and 2nd behind Tom Boonen, Belgium championships in Aywaille.

Best Belgian Young Guns & 2009 Flandrien's: Kevin De Jonghe, Martijn Degreve and Kris Boeckmans  Photo © 2009 Yoni Peeters

Winner of the U23 European Road Championships Belgian Kris Boeckmans and intern of the Silence/Davitamon Espoir  team was honored with the U23 award. Kevin De Jonghe winner of the Belgian Junior ITT was honored with Best Junior Belgian rider.

Youngster Martijn Degreve opened his account in his debut year with 7 wins and garnered the most votes as the top newcomer.

Mark Cavendish with his Flandrien trophy  - Cavendish celebrated 25 wins during the 2009 season, including 10 grand tour stages [one TTT] and the prestigious Milan-San Remo. Photo © 2009 Yoni Peeters

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