Philippe Gilbert not willing to lead the World Championships – Cycling News
Philippe Gilbert who is currently preparing for the one day road races in Canada mentioned that he is not willing to lead the Belgian team in the World Championships scheduled to be held in Copenhagen starting on September 19 and concluding on September
25, 2011.
Gilbert is having an outstanding season and is surely a top choice for the World Championships as he has won the National Road Race, National Time Trial and Tour of Belgium in the current year. He also won the Montepaschi Strade Bianche race followed by
the first stage of the Tour de France 2011 as he defeated the Tour overall winner by 3 seconds.
Philippe is currently at second position as per the latest World rankings as he has secured 16 wins in the running season and his brilliant performance has won him a three year deal with team BMC. He will be joining Thor Hushovd and his old friend Cadel
Evans in the team BMC.
The 29-year-old mentioned that he would prefer Tom Boonen to lead the team in the Championships but after Tom crashed out of the Vuelta a Espana during stage 15 and fractured his left scaphoid his participation in the World Championships is quite suspicious.
Tom was quite disappointed as he mentioned after the crash, “I was doing really well in the past few days and, as we’re getting closer to the World Championships, it was perfect. The entire scenario changed in a moment. I am very disappointed.”
The Belgian mentioned that he was in a good form at the beginning of the season but currently he is not feeling as good because he has exerted a lot of energy in this year already as he said, “It was never my intention to take on the leadership in Copenhagen.”
Gilbert stated that since the crash it is a totally different situation as Tom was one of the most specialised and talented cyclist in their squad and could have been the best choice for the leader’s position. It will be interesting to see how Philippe handles
the Belgian team in the upcoming World Championships starting in a few days.
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