You can't take anything away from Boonen. He's the world road race champ and was amazing during the ProTour this year. I think expecting him to beat Robbie who is obviously on fire at the moment is unreasonable. It doesn't matter whether Steegmans is leading him out or not - he just has the nouce and the top end speed at the moment to blow the doors off everyone.
Oh, and at the risk of being pedantic, 'freelance' is one word.
