Philippe Gilbert

Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011.

Born in Remouchamps in the municipality of Aywaille, Gilbert turned professional in 2003 by joining after riding as stagiaire for the team in late 2000.

During this season he recorded his first victory by winning a stage in the Tour de l'Avenir.

In 2004 he began by winning a stage in the Tour Down Under as well as the young rider classification.

He participated in the Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race at the 2004 Summer Olympics where he finished 49th.

He also won the Paris–Corrèze.

In 2005 he won several races in France, which allowed him to win the Coupe de France de cyclisme sur route.

These victories included the Trophée des Grimpeurs, the Tour du Haut Var and the Polynormande.

He also took stages in the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Tour Méditerranéen.

2006 would become his most successful year to the point when he won the prestigious Omloop Het Volk after repeatedly attacking until he got away alone with 7 km to go.

During the season he also won the Grand Prix de Fourmies and the Grand Prix de Wallonie as well as stages at the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Eneco Tour.

In early 2007 he had a skin cancer lesion removed from his thigh, delaying the start of his season.

That did not stop him from trying himself during Milan–San Remo, where he managed to escape on the Poggio with Riccardo Riccò before being captured 1.2 km from the finishing line.

He could not get any victory during the season until the Tour du Limousin, where he claimed his only victory in 2007 by winning a stage.

In Paris–Tours he was caught with 500 m to go along with Karsten Kroon and Filippo Pozzato.

A Classics specialist, Gilbert has won several classic cycle races, including Paris–Tours twice (2008, 2009), the Giro di Lombardia twice (2009, 2010), the Amstel Gold Race four times (2010, 2011, 2014, 2017), La Flèche Wallonne (2011), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (2011), the Clásica de San Sebastián (2011), the Tour of Flanders (2017), and Paris–Roubaix (2019).

He is the second person (and first Belgian) in history to win all three Ardennes classics in a single year.

Gilbert started 2008 by winning the King of the Mountains competition at the Tour Down Under and the overall classification as well as two stages of the Vuelta a Mallorca.

He also finished third in Milan–San Remo, accomplishing his first podium in a monument.

He later won Omloop Het Volk for the second time in his career after a solo attack with almost 50 km to go.

Four days later he won the GP Samyn.

He finished the year by winning the classic Paris–Tours race in a late breakaway where he won a sprint between his three breakaway companions.

The peloton finished four seconds back.

He has also won stages at each of the three cycling Grand Tours: three stages at the Giro d'Italia (one in 2009 and two in 2015), one stage at the Tour de France (in 2011), and seven stages at the Vuelta a España (two in both 2010 and 2012, one in 2013 and two in 2019).

Gilbert retired as a professional, after the 2022 Paris–Tours.

He celebrated his retirement in Valkenburg aan de Geul where he became world champion and won four Amstel Gold Races.

He was honoured with a mural in the caves of the Cauberg.

Gilbert currently resides in Monaco.

In 2009 he joined to lead the Belgian team in the classics, finishing third at the Tour of Flanders and fourth in both the Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

He also took his first stage in a Grand Tour by winning the 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia and won a stage and the overall classification of the Ster Elektrotoer.

Later in the season he repeated his Paris–Tours win, attacking on the last climb with Tom Boonen and Borut Božič before outsprinting them to the line.

A week later, he also won the prestigious Giro di Lombardia after escaping from the peloton with Samuel Sánchez, beating him to the finish by a half-length.

It was his fourth victory in 10 days after also winning the Coppa Sabatini and Giro del Piemonte.

At the end of the season he was awarded the Flandrien of the Year award, recognising him as the best Belgian rider of the year.

With his ex-wife Patricia Zevaert he has two sons, born 2010 and 2013.

Gilbert's younger brother Jérôme has also been a racing cyclist.

Gilbert committed to serve world peace through sport by joining Peace and Sport.

During the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Flanders, he was elected to a four-year term as a representative for road cycling on the Union Cycliste Internationale Athletes' Commission, winning 66 percent of the vote.

Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour.

In 2017, Gilbert became the third rider after Eddy Merckx (1975) and Jan Raas (1979) to win both the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold Race in the same year.