Philippe Gilbert’s struggle continues
Philippe Gilbert’s current form remains a mystery after he failed to make an impression at the fourth Grand Tour race of the year, Milan- San Remo.
The crash during the final kilometres of the race ended his hopes to claim the victory at the Italian race. He managed to get back on his bike but was too late to fight for the top position.
He lost more than 9 minutes to the race leader and had to settle for the 87th overall spot after the classifications.
Simon Gerrans of Team GreenEdge secured the top spot after his brilliant knock at the 298 kilometre race.
He finished the race in a fastest time of 6 hours, 59 minutes and 24 seconds to grab his second overall victory of the season.
The Australian opened his winning account at the UCI opening event, Santos Tour Down Under.
His overall victory at the Australian race also helped the World Tour debutant side, Team GreenEdge to register its first victory at the top level of the sport.
Gerrans achieved the first position at the Milan-San Remo after a photo finish. Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali claimed the second and the third positions after a close encounter.
Peter Sagan, John Degenkolb and Filippo Pozzato grabbed the fourth, the fifth and the sixth positions after the race.
However, the most successful cyclist of 2011, Philippe has struggled to prove his real talent in the season so far.
He topped the UCI World Tour rankings with the maximum number of points and filled his bag with a number of victories in the 2011 season.
Gilbert was disappointed after the crash, “It was Dominique Rollin from FDJ who was maybe on the limit and taking a lot of risks”, he told the media.
“He made a lot of riders fall around me. I was afraid because there were cars passing on my right. I slid on my back and then other riders crashed into me from behind”.
“I just have some burns, so we’ll see tomorrow”, he concluded.
Despite being one of the most expensive squads in the 2012 season, the American team has not registered any wins yet.
Team BMC is certainly having a rough season so far and the Italian race was no exception. It’s top cyclist was Alessandro Ballan who achieved the eighth overall spot at the race.
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