Philippe Gilbert to resume his 2012 season at the Tour of Belgium 2012

Philippe Gilbert to resume his 2012 season at the Tour of Belgium 2012

Philippe Gilbert is having a tough season after a disappointing start to his classics campaign.

His only commendable performances this year include a third place finish to the La Fleche Wallonne and a six place finish at the Amstel Gold Race 2012.

The cyclist had a terrific past season and filled his bag with numerous victories including the overall wins at the Ster ZLM Toer, the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Amstel Gold Race and the La Fleche Wallonne.

He also finished first at the Clasica de San Sebastian, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec, the Montepaschi Strade Bianche, the Brabantse Pijl, the GP de Wallonie and the Tirreno-Adriatico 2011.

The Belgian bagged stages at the Tour of Belgium, Stem ZLM Tour, Eneco Tour and the Tour de France 2011 to wrap up his career’s best season.

He topped the UCI Elite Men Individual rankings with a total number of 718 points to his credit.

Cadel Evans finished at the second position with 584 points while Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver, Michele Scarponi and Tony Martin bagged 446, 419 and 349 points respectively.

Philippe is now set to continue his winning pursuit at the Tour of Belgium after one month’s rest.

He is positive to improve his performance at the coming event and believes that the time-out will help him improving his performance in the current season.

The 29-year-old noted, “It was good for me to spend one month at home, to be able to work hard and start a new base and build new form and condition”.

“I know against the time trial specialists, I will lose time, the last stage is tricky in the area of Huy, so if I see that I can’t aim for the general classification, I will try to win a stage.”

“The time trial is totally flat and almost without curves – something for a specialist – while the last day will be selective”.

Tour of Belgium is scheduled from May 23-27 and Gilbert is determined to find his 2011 winning momentum at the coming race.