🎬 The importance of a 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬-𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐢𝐱 recon Go behind the scenes with the team during yesterday's recon of #ParisRoubaix, where we give you some insight into why we are testing on the famous cobbles one last time ahead of the race on Sunday.
Gilbert on Lotto Soudal's relegation battle: "We live from week to week, almost from day to day"
CyclingSaturday, 16 April 2022 at 21:00
Philippe Gilbert is on his final season as a professional rider. The Belgian veteran is having a role in Lotto Soudal's fight to stay afloat at World Tour level, a battle that every month seems more complicated for the Belgian team.
Although not being set for the cobbled classics, as he was planning his spring around the Ardennes where he's gotten some of the biggest wins of his career, he will be at the start in Compiègne tomorrow: “First of all, it happened at my personal request. I continue to experience significant breathing problems. I don't know if you can still call it bronchitis, but when I climb, I have really big problems. I'm not getting enough oxygen, as I've noticed in the Amstel."
Roubaix is more flat, a more gradual effort. I hope I can defend my chances better there. In the ideal world you wouldn't be sick, of course, but I can't control that," he added in a pre-race conference.
Gilbert was the winner of Paris-Roubaix in 2019. After having raced it four times, he will know very well what the task at hand is and his experience can be of great value for the likes of Victor Campenaerts and Florian Vermeersch who will be aiming for a high result at the end of the day.
He was asked about the team's situation in the UCI rankings. Lotto Soudal was, in the last update, in 20th and very last spot between the World Tour teams, more than 1000 points behind Cofidis - who in the meantime have extended the gap with a dominating performance at Classic Grand Besançon Doubs. “We have no choice. There is a lot of pressure within the squad to race. For example, Tim Wellens had to go to France immediately after the Brabantse Pijl to race there.
"The team is in a major stress situation around the points. There is no longer a long-term vision. We live from week to week, almost from day to day. There is a lot of pressure. It's true: you might say quitting and taking the time to recover is the better option, but in the meantime, we live on hope. Although we may have to say in a month that it was a mistake," he concluded.
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