Philippe Gilbert repeats win at the Giro di Lombardia
With his victory at Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia, Philippe Gilbert has secured the same impressive end-season triple for the second year in a row. On Thursday, Gilbert won the Gran Piemonte, his revenge for failing to gain his favourite status in the World
Championships. He went on to prove he is still the champion of the classics by winning the official final race of the road season in Lombardia.
"This year it was a lot more difficult to win and the weather made it even worse,” said Gilbert. "This race is really hard to win and I had to go deep. We had to make huge efforts in the finale and for a long time there was a head wind. It was 45 minutes
at 100 percent."
Of the 195 races who signed in at the starting line, only 34 crossed the finish line after the cold and wet weather put a serious damper on the typically beautiful ‘Race of the Fallen Leaves.’ The Belgian winner’s team Omega Pharma-Lotto knew what to do
from the beginning and did a fantastic job of keeping every breakaway in check.
"I want to also thank my team, my team mates. I have won a very pretty race, but I did not do this alone. I won't forget this."
Gilbert first took the lead at the descent of the Sormano, where Vincenzo Nibali, Pablo Lastras and Haimar Zubelia joined him at the head of the peloton. Nibali, arguably Gilbert’s best competition for the day, crashed at a hairpin turn before the race flattened
out, and was out of the competition.
During the fast run-in to the final climb, Michele Scarponi was the only rider who could keep up with the Belgian. Shoulder-to-shoulder at the foot of the uphill finish, Gilbert managed to build a gap before the finish line and Scarponi took second overall,
12 seconds behind the winner. Lastras held on long enough to stand on the podium in third, 55 seconds behind.
Hours later, Gilbert was crowned with the Flandrien 2010 award, thus completing the same trio of end-season victories as he did in 2009. He is already setting his next goals.
“I have already won five Classics, but I still have dreams. The Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Milan-Sanremo are still on my list. Any why not Paris-Roubaix?” said Gilbert. “To me, whatever happens, I might still look for a new challenge: a place
of merit in a Grand Tour. If I succeed in losing three kilograms of weight, it should be possible. But this is all yet in the future.”
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