At the end of the 2016 season, Philippe Gilbert's career was at a crossroads. Over 30, and without a contract offer from BMC Racing, the Belgian was forced to search for a new team for the first time in five years. What's more, without a Monument win since 2011 options were scarce.
At the time Astana were mentioned as possibility, before Patrick Lefevere stepped forward and presented an opportunity that was mutually beneficial for both team boss and rider. The canny Lefevere offered Gilbert a pay cut, and with a roster already crammed with Classics riders of the caliber of Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra, it would have been easier for Gilbert to take a better financial offer someplace else and wind his career down before eventual retirement.
What Lefevere realized, however, was that although his offer came with conditions, it also gave Gilbert the chance to rebrand and rebuild himself as a cobbled classics specialist. No other team could offer such a backdrop.
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It was certainly a gamble, but together Gilbert and Lefevere hatched a plan. Aware that Gilbert was no longer the explosive rider he once was, they would modify him into a diesel. Gilbert would get the chances to race the biggest races, and in return, Lefevere would pay low and reward with high bonuses.
Three years into the project, and it was little wonder that it was Lefevere who gave Gilbert the first of many warm embraces on the finish line in Roubaix. Come Monday that bonus will need to be deposited in Gilbert's account but for now, while the champagne flows, even Lefevere will toast yet another Classics win.
For Gilbert, victory in Paris-Roubaix represents two Monument wins in three years, and at 36 he's just one Milan-San Remo win away from equaling Rik Van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck, and Eddy Merckx as a winner of all five of cycling's Monuments.
Four down, one to go
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/gilberts-metamorphosis-moves-him-one-step-closer-to-monument-immortality
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