Philippe Gilbert ended his 2015 season at the Abu Dhabi Tour, bringing down the curtain on the 15th season of his career. The French-speaking Belgian won the world title in 2012, and has been a Classics contender and Classics winner for close to a decade. His palmares includes three victories at the Amstel Gold Race, two victories at Il Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. In a magical season in 2011, he completed the Ardennes triple, winning the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche-Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne in the same week.
This year Gilbert’s Classics campaign was wrecked by a series of crashes, but he fought back to win two stages at the Giro d’Italia. He missed the Tour de France following the discovery of a micro fracture in his tibia but recovered to finish second at the Clasica San Sebastian.
As he explains in this interview, winning is still all that matters despite his age and the complexities and unpredictability of the one-day Classics. Gilbert turned 33 in July but still considers himself a team leader at BMC. Gilbert can be proud, prickly and caustic in interviews but is never afraid to speak his mind about the race tactics of rivals such as Alejandro Valverde, rider safety or the pain, pressure and expectation that is part of being a big-name professional rider.
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Cyclingnews: The winter is traditionally a time to look back at the season. Are you happy with your 2015?
Philippe Gilbert: Yeah, I’m happy, even if I regret crashing in Fleche Wallonne because it cost me a big chance to win either Fleche or Liege-Bastogne-Liege. I really had the legs and had done the hard work.
At Amstel in the end it was almost done, I was close to winning for a fourth time but Michael Matthews killed himself to follow me and killed his own race. In a finale like that (on the Cauberg), even a little difference makes a difference between winning and losing. If you can get away alone, it’s usually done. But that’s racing.
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