Philippe Gilbert looking good, ahead of the Ardennes Classics 2012
It appears as if the top cyclist of the 2011 season, Philippe Gilbert is finally getting back in form. His improved performance was evident at the Brabantse Pijl.
Gilbert succeeded during the 2011 version of the race and rode brilliantly this year to grab the 12th overall position at the race.
He finished 1 minute and 58 seconds behind the race leader, Thomas Voeckler during the 194.9 kilometre event.
Voeckler received the honour by finishing the race in the fastest time of 4 hours, 49 minutes and 7 seconds and overcame Oscar Freire Gomez with a convincing lead of more than one minute.
Pieter Serry of Team Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator occupied the third position with Fabio Andres Duarte of Team Colombia-Coldeportes and Greg Van Avermaet of Team BMC achieving the next three positions.
Gilbert has not opened his 2012 winning account yet and is now targeting the 2012 version of the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallone and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
The cyclist has cited that he is currently going through a bad patch and hopes to get his winning ways at the coming Ardennes Classics.
However, Gilbert has briefed that he should not be regarded as the race favourite as he is not quite at his best.
The Belgian noted, "The only goal I have right now is finding back my form from last year. We'll see if it comes or not. It's not fun right now because it's hard to analyze what is going wrong".
"There can be a lot of reasons. Last year has been extremely hard – both mentally and physically – and there was the team switch. It's normal that you get a whiplash after such a year," Gilbert said. "I'm not hiding away. I'm right where I belong to be".
Philippe rode brilliantly in the past season with Team Omega Pharma-Lotto. He penned a deal with the American side Team BMC in the 2012 season after an expensive transfer.
Gilbert earned a maximum number of 698 UCI points in the past season and dominated the UCI Elite Men category. He overcame Cadel Evans with an impressive lead of 124 UCI points.
Only time will tell, if the Classics specialists can regain his 2011 winning momentum during the coming Ardennes Classics.
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