As the 2022 road racing calendar winds down, so too do the careers of prominent UCI WorldTour racers like Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali, and Niki Terpstra. But the racer I am really going to miss is perhaps my favorite racer of all-time: Philippe Gilbert. The Belgian raced on guts and instincts. He was tactically brilliant, attacking at times when his rivals couldn’t see an opportunity. And that self-reliant, attacking style made him a man for the one-day races. Just look at this list of major victories:
2006 Omloop Het Volk2008 Omloop Het Volk2008 Paris-Tours2009 Paris-Tours2009 Giro di Lombardia2010 Giro di Lombardia2010 Amstel Gold Race2011 Amstel Gold Race2011 Liège–Bastogne–Liège2011 Strade Bianche2011 Brabantse Pijl2011 Clásica de San Sebastián2011 Belgian National Time Trial Championship2011 Belgian National Road Race Championship2012 La Flèche Wallonne2012 UCI World Road Race Championship2014 Brabantse Pijl2014 Amstel Gold Race2016 Belgian National Road Race Championship2017 Amstel Gold Race2017 Tour of Flanders2019 Paris-Roubaix
Gilbert appeared 3 times in the Olympic Games and 25 times in Grand Tours:
Giro d’Italia: 4 appearances, 3 stage victoriesTour de France: 12 appearances, 1 stage victoryVuelta a España: 9 appearances, 7 stage victories
Overall, Gilbert had 80 victories in a professional career that began in 2003. Now he’s a 40-year-old retiree living in Monaco, and it’s still good to be Phil!
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