Philippe Gilbert

Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team BMC Racing Team. Gilbert is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour. A Classics specialist, Gilbert has won several classic cycle races, including Paris–Tours twice (2008, 2009), the Giro di Lombardia twice (2009, 2010), the Amstel Gold Race twice (2010, 2011), La Flèche Wallonne (2011), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (2011) and the Clásica de San Sebastián (2011). He has also won stages at each of the three cycling Grand Tours; he won a stage at the Giro d'Italia in 2009, a stage at the Tour de France in 2011, and four stages at the Vuelta a España, winning two in both 2010 and 2012.