Belgian champion to take a break; WorldTour lead will have to wait at least another week
Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) will not be on the start line of Sunday’s Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany, the next event in the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour series, his team has announced. The Belgian champion, who today added his national time trial championship to his already incredible season, was originally in the team’s eight-man line up for the race. He will instead be taking a week’s rest, and returning for the Grand Prix Ouest-France, in Plouay on August 28th.
Despite hoping to take as many WorldTour points as possible, in an effort to take the title in the season long competition, Gilbert has been complaining of fatigue in recent races.
Aside from the fatigue, the Vattenfall Cyclassics traditionally finishes in a bunch sprint, with the last two editions having been won by Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervélo). While Gilbert has managed to defy all predictions at race finishes many times this season, the long straight roads to the Hamburg finish have made breakaways almost impossible in past editions.
Gilbert finished last year’s edition in 33rd position and clearly feels that it would be far better to save his energy for the course in Plouay, which suits his characteristics far better. The Belgian moved to within six points of Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) at the top of the WorldTour standings; it is expected that he will take the lead before long, but he will have to wait at least one more week to take over.
Omega Pharma-Lotto will instead put its weight behind German sprinter André Greipel, who took the first two stages of last week’s Eneco Tour, and would dearly love to win his home classic. So far the team has yet to announce Gilbert’s replacement.
Omega Pharma-Lotto team for the Vattenfall Cyclassics:
David Boucher, Jens Debusschere, André Greipel, Klaas Lodewyck, Jürgen Roelandts, Marcel Sieberg and Jelle Vanendert