Philippe Gilbert Discussion Thread

[Flamin]

Re:

Great news. If he can put on 3-4kg of useful bulk he would be a serious contender for both of them; it's brave as well to sacrifice your strongest races to try something new and build a more rounded palmares. I wish more riders would do it.

He definitely should move team if possible; otherwise he'll just be used by BMC to launch unrealistic attacks, with the intention of leaving GVA fresher at the finish.

He only gives up on Amstel, which he already won 3 times. I very much doubt he would do it if he felt he could win Liège again.

 

[sir fly]

I'll formulate it this way:
De Ronde deserves Gilbert in its Erelijst.

Roubaix seems just too rough for him, imo.

 

[jsem94]

Gilbert and GVA on the same team could be lethal, but they haven't always been brilliant teammates to one another.

 

[robin440]

But he still could ride amstel, Gva also ridden it this year despite the cobbled classics?! Would be weird not to see him attacking on the cauberg next year.

 

[GuyIncognito]

He already did put on muscle to win MSR and RvV by sacrificing the Ardennes, once before.
It was 2012. Didn't work at all.

 

[Billie]

Phil got into a fistfight today with two drunks while out training with Loic Vliegen. He has 3 small fractures in his hand. Not ideal prep for the Ardennes.

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Phil got into a fistfight today with two drunks while out training with Loic Vliegen. He has 3 small fractures in his hand. Not ideal prep for the Ardennes.

I'm interested in hearing the details to this story, any links?

 

[Billie]

Philippe Gilbert has undergone surgery on a fractured finger sustained during training on Friday, BMC Racing Team announced today.

Gilbert was training with Loïc Vliegen in Belgium when the two riders were targeted by two intoxicated men in a car. One of the men stepped out of the car and acted aggressively towards Vliegen and Gilbert, fracturing Gilbert’s middle finger on his left hand in the process.

BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Doctor Max Testa gave the following update.

“Philippe was taken to hospital and underwent surgery to have five pins inserted to secure three small fractures in his middle finger. He is otherwise fine but will need to take a day or two off the bike,” Dr Testa said.

“After the weekend we should have a better idea of the impact this will have on his Ardennes Classics campaign, but at this stage he should be fine to race. Luckily Loïc was not injured in the altercation.”

“I’m not feeling too bad at all. More than anything I am shocked that this happened as you don’t expect anything like this to take place when you head out for a training ride,” Gilbert explained.

It is understood that the two men were arrested by Belgian police at the time of the incident.

http://www.bmc-switzerland.com/us-e...ers_fractured_finger_in_training_altercation/

 

[jmdirt]

Rumbling with drunks is not good prep for the Arennes!

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Rumbling with drunks is not good prep for the Arennes!

Ah, I think he's a pretty tough guy. I seem to recall him wanting to get into a scuffle with a bystander at a certain race after their dog made him crash.

 

[Red Rick]

Drunks will be drunks. Seems not like a smart thing to get into an altercation with them

 

[robin440]

too much amstel

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

too much amstel

 

[Billie]

Phil will miss atleast the Brabantse Pijl because of this...

 

[OlavEH]

WTF happened to this guy? One win in AGR after 2011. None in FW or LBL. In the latter race, which is on home soil and is the most prestigous of the hilly classics, he hasn't really been in the battle for the victory at all since 2011. The couple of times he has been in the decisive group, he didn't have power in the sprint at Ans and was nr 7 or 8. I think most of this stay in BMD has been a huge disappointment based on his results in Lotto.

Just bad luck, or is there an other explanation?

 

[Angliru]

Re:

WTF happened to this guy? One win in AGR after 2011. None in FW or LBL. In the latter race, which is on home soil and is the most prestigous of the hilly classics, he hasn't really been in the battle for the victory at all since 2011. The couple of times he has been in the decisive group, he didn't have power in the sprint at Ans and was nr 7 or 8. I think most of this stay in BMD has been a huge disappointment based on his results in Lotto.

Just bad luck, or is there an other explanation?

He misses Andy and Frank?

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah I don't know. His winning puncheur abililty seems really limited to Cauberg like climbs. Both Liege and Fleche seem a bit too hard for him. Then there's Lombardia where has no chance in hell since the parcours change anymore

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Yeah I don't know. His winning puncheur abililty seems really limited to Cauberg like climbs. Both Liege and Fleche seem a bit too hard for him. Then there's Lombardia where has no chance in hell since the parcours change anymore

He's a one-trick pony now.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

WTF happened to this guy? One win in AGR after 2011. None in FW or LBL. In the latter race, which is on home soil and is the most prestigous of the hilly classics, he hasn't really been in the battle for the victory at all since 2011. The couple of times he has been in the decisive group, he didn't have power in the sprint at Ans and was nr 7 or 8. I think most of this stay in BMD has been a huge disappointment based on his results in Lotto.

Just bad luck, or is there an other explanation?

The extreme and comical outlier is the year 2011, not the other years.

So what happened? He regressed down from the most improbable of heights in 2011 to his mean performance level, and then his mean performance level started declining with age, disruptive preparation and waning hunger for results that coincided with landing a huge contract.

 

[the asian]

Re: Re:

WTF happened to this guy? One win in AGR after 2011. None in FW or LBL. In the latter race, which is on home soil and is the most prestigous of the hilly classics, he hasn't really been in the battle for the victory at all since 2011. The couple of times he has been in the decisive group, he didn't have power in the sprint at Ans and was nr 7 or 8. I think most of this stay in BMD has been a huge disappointment based on his results in Lotto.

Just bad luck, or is there an other explanation?

The extreme and comical outlier is the year 2011, not the other years.

So what happened? He regressed down from the most improbable of heights in 2011 to his mean performance level, and then his mean performance level started declining with age, disruptive preparation and waning hunger for results that coincided with landing a huge contract.

Quoted for truth. Has had a bit of bad luck as well.

Also seems to have lost a lot of top speed with age.

Still I reckon, he's the best puncheur though.

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

WTF happened to this guy? One win in AGR after 2011. None in FW or LBL. In the latter race, which is on home soil and is the most prestigous of the hilly classics, he hasn't really been in the battle for the victory at all since 2011. The couple of times he has been in the decisive group, he didn't have power in the sprint at Ans and was nr 7 or 8. I think most of this stay in BMD has been a huge disappointment based on his results in Lotto.

Just bad luck, or is there an other explanation?

The extreme and comical outlier is the year 2011, not the other years.

So what happened? He regressed down from the most improbable of heights in 2011 to his mean performance level, and then his mean performance level started declining with age, disruptive preparation and waning hunger for results that coincided with landing a huge contract.

He was still far better in '10 than he has been since his move to BMC. It is especially notable for his performances in Liege.

One could argue that '11 took its toll on him for most of '12 or that he was just too lazy during winter after cashing in, and that it is the reason why he only was good again in time for the wcrr, and that dis decline since then is age-related, but I think leaving Omega-Pharma and its infrastructure also played a part.

 

[Red Rick]

And wich climb was the WCRR 2012?

 

[Pentacycle]

With his Murcia win in february, it finally looked like he was exiting his comfort zone of peaking at the Ardennes exclusively. Then a cascade of bad luck happened. Of course Gilbert does not have his 2011 engine anymore, he was still lightning fast in 2014 on the Cauberg and present in the finales of many one day races. Most remarkable though is his lack of recovery during races and his racing attitude shift from positive to negative. Alright, exception on this is the 2014 Brabantse Pijl when he did a brutal attack and still handled Matthews in the sprint.

However, one only has to look at the finale of Amstel Gold in 2010 to see the difference.The last 25 km he is unstoppable. Marking Andy on Eyserbosweg, easily countering Cunego/F.Schleck on the Fromberg, then accelerating on and soloing after the Keutenberg. Before of course putting seconds in the rest on the Cauberg. This difference is IMO also the main reason he doesn't ride Flanders anymore, because he wouldn't be able to endure the long and demanding finale there like he used to.

 

[Miburo]

Discussing gilbert's performances you can't do it here...It's obvious what happened in 2011 with lotto. Look at vanendert and VDB2! Their best year in 2011 (vdb2 was in really good shape for the tour but crashed it, was the only year where he won a stage)

WC 2012, i don't think it was that impressive, cauberg is just made for him. Nothing more to it.

What he did in LBL 2011 was hilarious of course

 

[Red Rick]

Also, with the Cauberg, almost everyone fucks their effort up. Gilbert is always in perfect positions, and never goes to early. Looked at how everyone went after Samu in 2014.