Philippe Gilbert wins the 2012 UCI Elite Men Road Race
Philippe Gilbert might have stayed quite all year but the cyclist has stunned his opponents by winning the biggest race of the season, the UCI Road World Championships 2012.
He completed the 261 kilometre race in a total time of 6 hours, 10 minutes and 41 seconds and restricted his major rivals.
Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Norway was head to head with the Belgian but fell four seconds short as the cyclists crossed the finish-line.
Boasson had to settle for the second position with Alejandro Valverde Belmonte of Team Spain finishing further one second behind at the third position.
John Degenkolb of Team German, Lars Boom of Team Netherlands and Allan Davis of Team Australia occupied the fourth, fifth and the sixth positions in the respective order.
Gilbert was delighted after securing the victory and thanked his teammates for their continuous support during the event.
"It's hard to realize what happened. The Belgians did outstanding work. We deserved to win this title," he cited.
"I was placed excellently [on the climb]. I looked back quickly and then took off. I still don't realize that I am world champion".
The 30-year-old had a terrific past season and filled his pockets with several top performances throughout the year.
He grabbed the maximum number of 718 points in his bag and claimed the top position at the UCI World Tour Individual Rankings.
Cadel Evans (584 points), Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (446 points), Michele Scarponi (419 points) and Tony Martin (349) achieved the next four positions respectively.
However, Philippe has struggled to maintain his last year’s winning momentum and his only commendable performances in the current season including two stage victories at the Vuelta a Espana, third at the La Fleche Wallonne and a sixth overall place at the
Amstel Gold Race.
Top fifteen finishers after the UCI Road World Championships are as under,
1
Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
6:10:41
2
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
0:00:04
3
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spain)
0:00:05
4
John Degenkolb (Germany)
5
Lars Boom (Netherlands)
6
Allan Davis (Australia)
7
Thomas Voeckler (France)
8
Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)
9
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Colombia)
10
Oscar Freire Gomez (Spain)
11
Rui Costa (Portugal)
12
Tom Boonen (Belgium)
13
Oscar Gatto (Italy)
14
Peter Sagan (Slovakia)
15
Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Sweden)
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