Philippe Gilbert eyeing gold at the 2012 Olympic Games
Philippe Gilbert of Team BMC could not continue his last year’s performance while he tests his legs at the Criterium du Dauphine 2012.
The Belgian is looking ahead at the 2012 Olympic Games as the biggest goal of his 2012 season and is hopeful that the mountainous stages at the Criterium du Dauphine will definitely help him fine-tune ahead of the mega event.
Gilbert topped the UCI World Tour Elite Men ranking with a maximum number of 718 UCI points in his back pocket.
He overcame the Tour de France 2011 winner, Cadel Evans with an impressive lead of 134 points, Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha finished third with 446 points to his credit.
Some of the top performances from the long list of his victories includes, the overall victories at the Tour of Belgium and the Ster ZLM Toer including the second overall position at the Eneco Tour.
Philippe also won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne, Clasica de San Sebastian, Brabantse Pijl, Montepaschi Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta ao Algarve 2011.
Contrary this last year’s performance, Philippe has not bagged even a single win nin the current season.
His only two commendable performances include the third place finish at the La Fleche Wallonne and the sixth overall spot during the Amstel Gold Race 2012.
While commenting on his goals for the remaining part of the season, Philippe told Sporza, "I haven't been great so far this year”.
“But I continue to believe in it. I'm sure it's going to be alright”.
"In the Dauphiné it was all for Evans at BMC, but I also raced hard”.
“In the Tour, there will be a lot of uphill kilometres to tackle, too, and that always does me good. I'm getting stronger from climbing".
Gilbert is positive for the Olympics road race event scheduled on July 28th and has briefed that he will only ride the Tour de France to get in shape for the London’s event.
"The Tour is my set-up to be in shape for the Olympics. There's one week between the Tour and the Games. That has to be enough," he cited.
It will be interesting to see, if the Belgian finds his form at the Tour de France where he will also be assisting team-mate Cadel Evans during the three-week race.
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