Classics king Philippe Gilbert showed once again his superb 2011 form when he extended his overall lead in the Tour of Belgium today. The Omega Pharma Lotto rider scooped victory on the tough 202 kilometre penultimate stage to Eupen, outsprinting Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) to the line, and taking time out of eight out of the nine other riders who sat in the top ten yesterday.
Having started the stage just one second clear of team-mate André Griepel in the standings, he is now 19 seconds ahead of Van Avermaet, and a further 16 second clear of Leukemans. It makes him the clear favourite heading into tomorrow’s final stage to Putte.
“The races with short, steep climbs are becoming my specialty,” he said. “I'd already took the black jersey of leader yesterday, but in truth, I targeted this stage in my calendar. The jersey was not an objective in itself, but of course I will not refuse it."
"I gave everything on the big plateaux where we got clear with a tailwind. The group broke up and that's how it started… I kept a little in reserve before giving it everything in the final kilometre, with success.
The stage featured an attack by eight riders, who broke clear after 34 kilometres. They were Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil), Michael Schär (BMC Racing Team), Thomas Vaitkus (Astana), Kevin Neirynck, Jelle Wallays (both Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Christophe Laborie (Saur-Sojasun), Huub Duyn (Donckers Koffie – Jelly Belly) and Rob Peeters (Telenet – Fidea).
Gilbert wasn’t content to let the move go and threw down the gauntlet on the climb of the Côte de la Haute-Levee, together with Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) and QuickStep’s Zdenek Stybar. This led to a selection of 22 riders, and Gilbert thinned it down to six with another strong move on the top of Mount Rigi.
Also with him at that point were Pim Ligthart, Bjorn Leukemans (both Vacansoleil), Egor Silin (Katusha), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Bert De Waele (Landbouwkrediet). Going in the final kilometre, Gilbert wound up the pace on the uphill rise to the line, blowing De Waele and Silin out the back, and easily outsprinting the other two.
In doing so he netted his eighth win of the season and set himself up for a likely overall victory tomorrow.
Van Avermaet was second and said afterwards that he was disappointed not to make more of the chance. “I hoped I could beat him in a finish like that,” he explained. “Marcus (Burghardt) and the team did great work in the first part of the race to keep me out of the wind.” Leukemans netted third, De Waele took fourth, seven seconds back, with Silin 21 seconds behind in fifth.
Van Avermaet appears to have given up hopes of winning “It's a flat stage, so I think it's going to be a bunch sprint,” he said, effectively ruling out his chances of making up his 15 seconds deficit.
Gilbert is taking nothing for granted yet, though. “We'll still have to still be vigilant not to lose the jersey,” he insisted, paying credit to those who helped him out today. “It's true that I have won a lot this year, but I must thank my team. My team-mates worked very well today. The beginning of stage was very difficult, we were attacked from all sides. But the team remained united and very focused.”