Philippe Gilbert on adjusting to retirement - "I realize that I have devoted a large part of my life to cycling"
Cycling
Having finally hung up his cycling shoes for the final time, the legendary Philippe Gilbert has admitted he is finding it hard to fully detach himself from the cycling world. "Cycling has been my life, I already miss it."
One of only two men, alongside the much missed Davide Rebellin to have triumphed in each of the three Ardennes Classics, Gilbert is a bona fide cycling legend. After calling time on his career at the end of the 2022 season, Gilbert has been talking to L'Equipe about how he is finding retired life. "I realize that I have devoted a large part of my life to cycling. And the path that opens today will be different, but I could never get off the bike," he says. "I still read the specialized press. I keep myself informed of everything that is happening."
"I always took risks because I liked challenges," reflected the 2012 Road Race World Champion. "I took advantage until the end of my career, precisely to never tell myself that I had missed opportunities. I can say that I explored everything."
One of the few things Gilbert didn't manage to do was achieve a top-10 finish at a Grand Tour despite achieving stage wins in all three of cycling's three-week stage races. "I have touched everything except the general classification of the Grand Tours," Gilbert says. "I feel that I do not have enough quality to make a convincing result there. I think that if I had really sacrificed everything, I could have done at best a place between 8 and 15. But what do we care about a list of winners?"
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- Oh, and yes: I am no psychiatrist/psychologist, but Bruyneel and Texas Turd are both sociopaths. It goes well beyond "protect my world and anyone would" that is the usual zeitgeist of their bullshit. No normal person has Bob Roll go at Greg Lemond with an audio recording device at Ron Keifel's bike shop...for example.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Funnier: this website keeps giving credo to their ramblings. In this case, why in any possible way would Boonen want to create a fantasy world to attach himself to these two clowns when more likely he would want to forget he was even there? Laughable.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- A sociopath is an informal term used to describe someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a mental health condition characterized by a chronic pattern of disregard for social norms, laws, and the rights and feelings of others.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Rowe spent his whole career on one team being nothing more than a thug for Skyneos. I have no idea why another team would want import this type of person into their program.Sweep26-12-2024
- “CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to family and friends of Pascal.” Paging a copy editor….menk26-12-2024
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024