Philippe Gilbert won the Tour of Lombardy for the second year in a row, yesterday, cementing his reputation as one of the strongest one-day riders in the pro ranks.
The Belgian adopted an attacking strategy on a day that was both wet and cold.
“The race was really tough, really long,” the Omega Pharma-Lotto rider said. “It was very different to last year's race, in part, of course, because of the weather. It was just 4 or 5 degrees out there “
As the rain hammered down, Gilbert did his own spot of hammering on the final descent, applying pressure to the rest of the field and making what proved to be the decisive break. The tricky descent put paid to Vincenzo Nibali who crashed, leaving the Belgian to slug it out with another Italian, Michele Scarponi.
Gilbert told L’Equipe that, given the manner in which he won, this was his finest victory.
“The end was very tough, a struggle, man against man. In the final kilometres I really had to dig deep into my reserves, it was a huge effort. Even if we had a favourable wind, it was practically 45 minutes going at 100%. I’m really proud to have won like this.”
As for the future, the Belgian has no doubt about what his dream victory would be.
“For me it’s Liège [-Bastogne-Liège]. It’s my home region and along with the Tour of Lombardy it’s one of the greatest races. This year I had the legs but it was difficult tactically. Next year I’ll be starting the race with a lot of motivation.”
Are you saying the figures in the article are wrong (DA 2507g; Red 2496g) or are you arithmetically challenged?
There's a good Youtube channel of a London-based cyclist who uses one, and I think sells them. It's been over a year since any new videos, though.
Yeah - I was meaning blocked by the green-light flow of traffic.
Unfortunately, Shimano don't make it easy to work with their Di2 wire protocols....
I've never found a bus system that didn't have a learning curve. I've ridden buses in at least:...
Agreed - I was just going on ones which IIRC were mentioned incidentally as supporters e.g. I think I read RNIB (who certainly were against these...
Again hope I'm not coming across as picking a fight! I think two "citation needed" there though....
Also the same as NS here in the Netherlands. No full size bikes during peak hours, only folders (and they're supposed to meet a minimum dimension...
Did you pay on a credit card? If you did you may be able to take advantage of s. 75 refund
I think it's reasonable to say that everyone on the UK roads has extensive experience with traffic doing circa 30mph.