Belgian champion eyeing up a repeat of 2011’s opening stage victory
Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) is another rider that likes the look of the 2012 Tour de France route, which was officially presented in Paris today. The Belgian champion won the opening stage of this year’s race, sees similar opportunities next July, and recognises that there is something for everyone in the mixed route.
“There are rides for sprinters, climbers, adventurers and time trial specialists,” he told Het Nieuwsblad after the presentation. “The Tour 2012 is a great show anyway.”
Gilbert changes teams in 2012, moving across to the BMC Racing Team after three years at Omega Pharma-Lotto. This team change means that he will be on the same team as Tour champion Cadel Evans, but he still expects to be able to ride for himself.
“I’ve also seen some nice hills up to the finishes at Seraing and Boulogne, regions that I know well,” he explained. “But in 2012, I dream of sitting on the team of the Tour winner; it is certainly a honour for me to be there. I will be allowed to go and take my own chance here and there.”
The first stage of the 2011 race, to the Mont des Alouettes in France’s Vendée region seemed tailor-made for Gilbert; despite the obvious pressure this brought, he duly won, taking the race’s first yellow jersey in the process. Next year the race will start with a 6.1km prologue time trial in Liège, but the first road stage to Seraing looks similarly Gilbert-esque.
“If I must choose a stage in Belgium, I choose the one to Seraing,” he explained, “because the course is not easy; but everything depends on the how the race is going. If Cadel Evans, for example, is in the yellow jersey after the prologue, the whole team in will be riding for him.”
As well as hunting stages in 2011, Gilbert was also fighting for the green points jersey into the final week of the race, before conceding the competition to HTC-Highroad super-sprinter Mark Cavendish. With more chances for the sprinters this time Gilbert is unlikely to be contesting the competition this time around, but it’s difficult to see him failing to win at least one stage.