allez Gilbert!

I love how this dude races.


Philippe Gilbert is easily on my top five list of favorite riders. I love how his cycling spidey sense allows him to continually pull victory out of seemingly suicide late-game moves.

Case in point:

Today, stage one of the Volta ao Algarve. According to CyclingNews.com, "Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve with a perfectly-timed attack in the final kilometre."

The results tell it all:

1	Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	4:36:36
2	Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Quickstep Cycling Team	0:00:05
3	André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
4	Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
5	Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team
6	Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard
7	John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad
8	Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack
9	Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
10	Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team

Look who finished second, third, fourth, and sixth. All of those dudes are BA sprinters...and Gilbert steals a victory out from under their noses.

That's how I want to win races, man. That's how I want to win races...