Making up for the loss of the crowd favourite Iljo Keisse from this year’s Ghent Six, Philippe Gilbert today lined out as part of the contest when he competed in the individual pursuit. Cheered on by the Belgian fans, the world number one competed against Omega Pharma – Lotto team-mate Jurgen Roelandts and, as expected, came out best.
Gilbert clocked a time of three minutes 43.5 seconds for the distance, and said afterwards that he both enjoyed racing in the velodrome and also found it somewhat alien.
“This was my first experience on the boards,” he said, according to Sporza and other Belgian media. “It is a strange discipline. You'd be forgiven to think that it is not the same sport.
“Track cycling and races on the road are very different to each other. My first feeling was good, but I was amazed by it the pressure you experience in the turns.”
“I followed the advice to concentrate on the black line and that worked pretty well.”
Gilbert has had a superb season, clocking up eighteen wins prior to today. These included the Ardennes Classic treble of Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Clásica de San Sebastián, a stage in the Tour de France, the overall classification in the Ster ZLM Toer and the Tour of Belgium. Unsurprisingly, the haul secured him the overall UCI WorldTour ranking for 2011.
He is moving to the BMC Racing team in 2012 and today may well have been the final competitive outing for him in the colours of the Omega Pharma-Lotto setup.
His presence lessened the absence of Belgian favourite Iljo Keisse from the race. The three-time winner had hoped to take part but a recent court decision ruled that he could not compete on home soil until January 28th.