He’s won two editions of the Tour of Lombardy and the Amstel Gold race, and also taken Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Having achieved the latter yesterday, one of his long-stated career goals due to the fact that he has a house beside the course, Philippe Gilbert has set his sights higher and set himself a big target: he wants to win all of the Classics in cycling before he retires.
Although it’s not the first time he’s said it, his wins of the past week and a half show that it’s something he has moved closer to achieving. It’s very much on his mind now.
“I am made for one day races and those are my dream races,” he said at the post-race press conference, clearly satisfied with how the day had gone for him. “I am physically capable of winning the Ardennes Classics and now I have the experience. Winning the Ardennes Classics is huge. I was twice third at Flanders and I know I can do better. The day I can win all the Classics will be fantastic, but I also take pleasure in riding them.”
He’s already gone close in events like Sanremo and Flanders, but has steered clear of Paris-Roubaix. Gilbert knows that he has to face that race at some point if he is to achieve his goal, though; he is wary of doing it at this point of his career.
“Paris Roubaix is tempting, but it is also an extremely dangerous race. There is a long list of riders who have injured themselves on the race, who lost two, three or four months of their season. I don’t want to take risks yet,” he explained.
Instead, he’s happy to put it off until a different time. That way, he will hopefully minimise his risk of injury, and also avoid problems in his Classics campaigns next year and beyond. “I perhaps do it later in my career,” he said. “I also know it is a race where you need more experience than being physically ready.”
Reaching another important target:
For a long time, Liège was a race that seemed a tough goal for him. He’s bigger than many of the other Ardennes contenders and while he has a devastating acceleration on short ascents, he isn’t a natural climber in stage races. It was clear that he’d need to be in very good form to win Liège; he reached that level of condition this month, and it paid off handsomely yesterday.
Because it took more effort that previous successes, it was something that satisfied him greatly. “It was an amazing day today. It is the race of my life and to win it is something fantastic…it is the best achievement of my sporting career,” he said.
“The last ten days were difficult to cope with in terms of the pressure and being physically ready. I knew I was mentally really, I have worked months and months to be in this shape I am in. The closer I got to these races, the better shape I was in.
“Before this, I finished third in Milan Sanremo and ninth in the Tour of Flanders…I believe I should have done better. For the last few weeks, I asked the team to shield me, to try to isolate me. We had press conferences but basically we really just wanted to stay together and create an atmosphere.”
His team have been one of the important factors in his Ardennes successes. Although his strength is clear, he has had to rely on the efforts of others to help control races such as the Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and yesterday’s event. His fellow riders did a lot early on, but were absent at one point and he said afterwards that this was one moment of concern.
“I had a slight doubt at Haute Levée,” he explained. “My team wasn’t present and I was left slightly alone. The others took advantage of the situation to attack, and about ten riders got clear. Fortunately Leopard Trek worked with us to bring it back.”
There was another point where he admitted being worries. “When the Schlecks attacked together, I thought of what happened two years ago when they went on the same hill, the Roche aux Faucons. It was too early then, but finally it paid off. The others were in difficulty and everything worked until the end.”
He said that he played a tactical game, using a show of strength at one point to dissuade further attacks. The effort on the Cote de Saint Nicolas worked well as he put Andy Schleck into difficulty; from that point on, the two brothers didn’t try to attack him. “The situation was delicate for me, as I was one against two,” he expained. “The two or three kilometres which come after the summit are very difficult, so I wanted to disillusion then. It was a battle man against man. When I went the second time, Andy was in trouble. After that, I knew I would have the advantage.”
Doing it for VDB:
Gilbert may have had the weight of expectation on his shoulders, but received a boost in the buildup to the race in the form of the encouragement from the family of the last Belgian to win the event. The late Frank Vandenbroucke triumphed in 1999; Gilbert has followed his wheeltracks now, ended a long period of waiting for the country.
“Frank won twelve years ago. I am still in contact with his mother and she told me Friday and this morning that he would be cycling with me at my side,” he said. “I was very close to him, so it is really a symbol to win twelve years after him.”
In that same year, ‘VDB’ was in superb form, dominating several races including some of the stages of the Vuelta a España. He headed to the worlds in Verona certain he would win, but crashed and damaged his wrists. Gilbert wants to succeed where Vandenbroucke did not, in terms of taking the rainbow jersey.
He explained that was one of the big goals for the rest of his career. “There are so many other things to do in cycling. The world championship is another big dream and the course in 2012 and 2013 will be perfect for me,” he said. “That objective is a big motivation for me.
“I have also never won the jersey in the Tour de France. A coupe of years ago I was second overall by a second, but I have never worn the jersey. That will be one of my objectives for this season.”
Given how he performed yesterday and this year in general, few would bet against him doing that. Gilbert remains hungry, and shows no sign that he is about to ease off on the gas anytime soon.