Cyclist Gilbert ends career without a fifth ‘monument’

Cyclist Philippe Gilbert will end his cycling career after this season without a fifth ‘monument’. The 39-year-old Belgian of Lotto Soudal finished 144th in his last participation in Milan-Sanremo. The Italian classic will therefore always remain a gap in his honors list.

Gilbert did win the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. In Milan-Sanremo, however, he did not go further than third place, in 2008 and 2011. The Belgian was not in top shape and came in at more than 11 minutes from Slovenian winner Matej Mohoric in his last participation.

“As I expected, I was not well today,” Gilbert told Sporza. “It was one of the goals in my life: to win the five monuments. It was a great motivation during beautiful cycling years, although I knew that it would be very difficult.”

Promising position

Gilbert came in a promising position when he also won Paris-Roubaix two years later after the victory of the Tour of Flanders in 2017. He had already won the other two classics earlier in his career. “My hunt for a fifth monument has ended today. I must be disappointed because I have done everything for it,” he said.

Three cyclists managed to win all five monuments. The Belgian Rik Van Looy was the first. Then his compatriots Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck followed.