Philippe Gilbert on adjusting to retirement - "I realize that I have devoted a large part of my life to 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?"