Gilbert Confirms WorldTour Overall Victory

Classics star Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) may not have taken a third straight win in the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday but the Belgian still ended the season as number one in the UCI’s WorldTour individual ranking, with Spain the nations’ classification winner and Omega Pharma-Lotto 2011’s top team.
Eighth in the so-called ‘Race of the Falling Leaves’ behind lone breakaway winner Olivier Zaugg (Leopard Trek), Gilbert nonetheless added another 20 points to his overall total in the final WorldTour race of 2011.
So the 29-year-old Belgian completes his 2011 season with a total of 718 WorldTour points, well clear of Tour de France champion Australia’s Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) with 574. Third is Spain’s Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank Sungard) with 471.
The key to Gilbert’s WorldTour success has undoubtably been both winning five WorldTour events, but also his remarkable consistency throughout 2011. The Belgian has taken points in no less than twelve WorldTour races, more than any other rider placed in the top ten of the individual classification, starting at Tirreno-Adriatico in March and running all the way through to the Giro di Lombardia in October.
The WorldTour leader for nearly three months after he took all three Ardennes Classics in April, Gilbert slid to third following the Tour de France behind new leader Evans and Contador.
However, whilst neither the Australian nor the Spaniard took any WorldTour points after July, Gilbert’s victories in the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec, saw him move back into the top position overall – and this time for good.
Gilbert did try his best in the Giro di Lombardia to get a third straight win, with an attack nearly 70 kilometres from the line in what looked to be a promising break including 2010 Vuelta a España winner Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
However, on the slopes of the Madonna di Ghisallo climb, whilst Nibali took off alone, Gilbert was reeled back in and finally had to settle for eighth – and the WorldTour title.
Nibali’s initially promising move gained the Italian nearly two minutes with 40 kilometres to go, and he later said he thought he could have won.
However, as Lombardia’s new finishing circuit in the town of Lecco approached, Nibali faded and he was unable to prevent the bunch from catching him. Nor was Nibali’s team-mate and another top favourite, 2009 Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso, able to stop Swiss rider Zaugg from slipping out of the pack’s grasp on the final climb of the race, Villa Vergano, – finally to claim his first ever professional win in an eight year career.
Second behind Zaugg eight seconds back, was Ireland’s Dan Martin (Team Garmin-Cervélo), with Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha Team) in third.
In terms of WorldTour rankings, Martin definitely benefited the most from Lombardia,, moving up ten places from nineteenth to ninth, whilst Rodriguez had to settle for consolidating his fourth place overall behind Gilbert, Evans and Contador.
There was just one change in the nations classification at the Giro di Lombardia. Whilst Spain won overall with a more than 200 point margin on Belgium – who in turn just managed to defend their second spot ahead of Italy by a mere 12 points – thanks to Zaugg, Switzerland ended the season in tenth place overall, pushing France down one spot.
Nor were there any major last-minute moves in the WorldTour teams’ classification, headed – as before – by Omega Pharma-Lotto, who gained another 20 points in the Giro di Lombardia ahead of their closest rivals Sky ProCycling. Leopard Trek remained in third, with the only top ten change made by Team Garmin-Cervélo, who ousted Lampre-ISD out of sixth place.
So with Gilbert, Spain and Omega Pharma-Lotto victorious, the Giro di Lombardia draws the 2011 WorldTour season to a close. However, the start of the 2012 racing is far closer than might be thought. The Tour Down Under 2012 will kick off next year’s calendar in just over four months time, with the first stage on January 17th 2012: see you then!

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