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With Evans leaving Silence-Lotto, Philippe Gilbert says now he leads 'a team for the classics.'

Published: Nov. 3, 2009
2009 Paris-Tours: Gilbert closed out the season with a string of top finishes.
2009 Paris-Tours: Gilbert closed out the season with a string of top finishes.
Photo: Graham Watson

Cadel Evans’ surprise departure from Silence-Lotto leaves a huge hole in the Belgian team’s grand tour presence.

The Aussie was a sure bet for the Belgian outfit, a consistent grand tour performer despite his hiccup in this year’s Tour de France when he finished a distant 30th. The team will lean on Jurgen Van den Broeck to step up to help fill the void.

Philippe Gilbert, the team's French-speaking classics rider, says he’s not terribly worried about Evans’ exit. Speaking to the Belgian TV channel Sporza, Gilbert says it’s all the more reason to focus whole-heartedly on the classics.

“With the departure of Evans, we are more than ever a team for the classics,” Gilbert said. “That puts even more pressure on my shoulders.”

Taking a well-deserved break after his end-of-season blowout that included four major wins in October, Gilbert outlined his 2010 season, in which, despite Evans’ departure, the Tour doesn’t figure.

“I can only lose at the Tour,” Gilbert said. “I will focus on the spring classics and the world championships.”

Gilbert said he will debut his 2010 campaign at the Tour of Qatar at the personal behest of Eddy Merckx, who works closely with race organizers for the desert season opener.

Then he will return to familiar ground, with the spring classics as his primary focus in the first part of the season.

“I will try to win Milan-San Remo, which would make it three consecutive classics,” said Gilbert, who won Paris-Tours and the Giro di Lombardia to close out the year. “That would be something unique. I will certainly try.”

After that, it’s off to the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he finished third, fourth and fourth, respectively, in 2009.

He’ll likely skip both the mountainous Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, with the Vuelta a España his preferred preparation for the 2010 worlds in Geelong, Australia.

“The Giro is too mountainous and the Tour is a gamble; there are only three or four days for me. I have more to lose than gain,” he said. “The Vuelta is perfect for the worlds.”