Philippe Gilbert: Dunkerque win "makes me very happy"

Philippe Gilbert has past the peak of his career, but within sight of his retirement later in 2022, he has returned to his winning ways with a strong set of performances at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque where he was able to take a stage win, followed by the overall classification.

After the disappointment of missing out on yesterday’s stage, I am very happy with this overall win. I had some stress in the beginning, because there was a tricky local circuit in the final, with a lot of turns and a constant battle for position," Gilbert said the end of the day.

After winning the third stage with an uphill finish at Mont-Saint-Éloi, Gilbert put himself in an advantageous position in the overall classification, and at the queen stage to Cassel he rode alongside the winning group to take over the lead of the race - as stage winner Gianni Vermeersch had lost time the previous days.

All he had to do was to stay with the peloton on the final day and hope that Oliver Naesen and Jake Stewart would miss on bonus seconds - which was the case. Hence Gilbert took his first stage-race win since the 2017 Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde.

This week also saw the first wins of the Belgian puncheur since returning to Lotto Soudal. The Belgian team is in need of UCI points, and this comes as a boost to the team's chances of mantaining their World Tour level. “It makes me very happy. I have had two difficult years with a lot of troubles and tough times. But I want to end my career on the highest level. I have never forgotten what you have to do to get there," he said. "The Classics were difficult for me, because I was never able to do my training as planned, due to illness. Here, in better weather and in a shorter race, I was able to get the win. Thanks also to the great team over here.”

He will now have time to recover to the second half of the season. As for his plans for the rest of the season, he details: “First I am getting married, later this month. But for the races afterwards I am very ambitious. I want to win some more.”