Philippe Gilbert struggles at World Championships as Jurgen Roelandts impressed – Cycling News
Philippe Gilbert was all set to continue his brilliant form and was keen to win the Elite Men Road Race at the World Road Race Championships 2011 but unfortunately finished the race in 17th position as he was the second best Belgian rider after
Jurgen Roelandts.
Gilbert was riding the World’s event after a fresh win during the Spring Classics in Canada as he dominated GP de Montreal and GP de Quebec.
Mark Cavendish finished the race with flying colours as he secured the rainbow jersey for Great Britain with Matthew Harley Goss of Australia at second and Andre Greipel of Germany in third position. Philippe commented about Roelandts, “We wanted to make
the race as hard as possible but the British and the Germans kept things under control. I realised it was impossible to get away and so told Jurgen (Roelandts) to take his own chance. We perhaps needed to sprint together to do a bit better. His fifth place
isn’t bad even if it could have been better.”
Philippe was not satisfied with the track as he said it was risky and he almost crashed during the race but still managed to catch up with Cavendish. He further added that Goss came in front of him and slowed him down which really ruled him out of the Championship.
Roelandts was relatively less experienced than Gilbert but he put on a good show and secured a strong position in a race that had a tight finish. He congratulated Cavendish and Great Britain on such a big achievement. He said, “I can only congratulate the
British team, they rode a fantastic race.”
Cavendish was 26th according to the UCI World Tour Individual rankings as of September 2011 and he will certainly jump a few positions after winning the Championship. Philippe Gilbert was leading the UCI Individual rankings with 698 points as
Jurgen Roelandts was 71st with 66 points. Cavendish was riding the Championships with a strong British team with the Italian coach Paolo Bennati declaring him as the favourite as his predictions were nothing less than 100 percent correct.
Tags: