Belgian captain hopes to be a factor in breakaways and attacks as he prepares for Worlds
Philippe Gilbert led home his Omega Pharma-Lotto team to a solid, even somewhat surprising, seventh place finish Saturday night in Sevilla. The recently wed Walloon put on a fine display in a discipline that he is not commonly known for, but it's merely the first solid ride in what he hopes will be a solid string of many more over the next three weeks.
"We did a pretty good team time trial," said the soon to be father after the opening team time trial. "To finish in seventh is not bad for us, but we lost seventeen seconds - that's more than one second per kilometer. That's a lot! We lost two riders between kilometers seven and eight, and that partly explains the time loss."
The winner of the 2010 Amstel Gold race also notched up a slew of top finishes in this year's Spring Classics, but now his eyes are entirely on the World Championships on October 3rd in Australia. Between now and then though, Gilbert recognizes that he has to make some strides forward for that to be a possibility.
In a conversation with Het Laatste Nieuws, Gilbert says that he's aiming to go deep over the next three weeks: "I have to lift my level. I am not content to just ride the Vuelta. I will give everything, more than I've done in the past."
The winner of four consecutive races to close out 2009 aims to push himself harder by finding his way into breakaways and going harder in general. Considering the lumpy profiles of the first few stages, that aim could begin to be accomplished as early as Sunday.
"I'm going to give more than I did in the past. I'm going to finish the Vuelta. I think I'll try to go into the red and into the breakaways more often, but not everyday of course. The first days are hilly, so I can try something."
Under normal circumstances, Philippe Gilbert is an aggressive bike racer, but now, with these fiery promises made in Sevilla, it seems likely that we'll be talking a lot about the 28 year old over the next three weeks, as he does everything he can to ready for a bid at his first World Championship title.
"I'm looking forward to the Vuelta. I need it for the World Championships in Australia. I want to feel my level improve. This is the ideal Vuelta. I should be better everyday."
As if we needed any reassurance of the one day specialist's motives, Gilbert confirms: "I'm not riding the Vuelta for the overall ranking, but for a stage win."
While a number of World Championship favorites will be taking part in the Vuelta after racing the Tour de France in July, the back to back Paris-Tours winner feels that his choice to sit out the Grand Boucle was a wise one.
"I do not think you can ride a good Tour and then be ready for the World Championships, or you need to be called Cancellara."
The Worlds are paramount in the mind of the Omega Pharma-Lotto leader, so much so that the question of a few days after the Vuelta gets careful thought and mention. Gilbert will leave for Australia the day following the finish of the Vuelta in Madrid, on the 20th of September. There was also the possibility of a quick trip home, with a departure on Wednesday, three days after the Tour of Spain's finale, but the native of Verviers wants every bit of time in Australia ahead of the World Championships that he can get, in this case, almost two weeks.
"If I would wait to leave until Wednesday [after the Vuelta finishes on Sunday the 19th], I would lose two days. I can use that time to acclimate to the time difference of nine hours. I can manage six weeks away from home."
After what should likely be a successful Vuelta and hopefully a victory at the World Championships, Gilbert won't be taking any breaks. He'll return immediately to Europe to go for his third straight win at Paris-Tours before embarking on another audacious run at the end of the year Classics, culminating with the Giro di Lombardia. The difficulty in dealing with the mammoth nine hour time difference alone would seem to put paid to Gilbert's plan, but he's not hearing any of it.
"They say it's impossible. They also said winning Paris-Tours and the Giro di Lombardia was impossible. I succeeded in that."