Gilbert wins De Brabantse Pijl

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Philippe Gilbert and his BMC team showed that they are on form and ready for the Ardennes Classics with a impressive victory at the De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne on Wednesday.

Gilbert missed a key attack and spent vital energy making a futile lone chase. However, he had something left for the high-speed finale. He was well placed after the attacks on the climb to the finishing straight and then managed to beat Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) in a close sprint. Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) was third ahead of Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano) and Björn Leukemans (Wanty - Groupe Gobert).

Gilbert led out the sprint, blocking the best line down the barriers. When Matthews came off his wheel, he cleverly moved across the road just enough to hold off the Australian and win with a bike throw.

"Matthews was the fastest, but I played it well because he had to close the gap to (Björn) Leukemans and (Wout) Poels in the descent and that cost him power," Gilbert said. "I also saw he was closed in in the last corner, but I waited, because I knew from the last times (up the climb), I didn't want to make the same mistake. It was perfect."

It was Gilbert's first race in Belgium this year and his first win of the season. He smiled as he headed back to the podium area and thanked his teammates who had ridden so hard to put him back in the race after a dangerous attack slipped away in the final hour of the race.

Matthews is on form and showing he is far more than just a sprinter in recent weeks, with victory at the Vuelta Ciclista a La Rioja and a stage win at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. He has been assured the sprinter's role at the rapidly approaching Giro d'Italia and seems ready to show his huge potential.

"I had Simon Gerrans in the break, which took the pressure off. Then I had Daryl Impey to take me around the course and put me in good position. I had a good sprint to the finish, but Gilbert was just quicker today," he said sportingly, unconcerned that Gilbert moved him across the road.

"The sprint sort of worked out. My plan was to lay off and then come off the wheels at 50 metres to go. But I didn't quite have the legs to finish it off. It was a clean sprint, he clearly beat me."

Tony Gallopin came back from a late puncture to take third, the best of the rest, behind Gilbert and Matthews.

"I had a puncture with 25km to go, the worst moment. It was very hard to get back on and I made it with six or seven kilometres to go. That's the best I could have done," he said on television after the race.

"I had a break after the Tour of Flanders and this was a good race for me. I'm ready for the Classics. I want to do the best I can in the Ardennes, maybe even a podium, we'll see. Today's result confirms the form is there."

How it happened

The De Brabantse Pijl race traditionally marks the start of the Ardennes races, with the cotes of central Belgium, south of Brussels, replacing the cobbled climbs of Flanders.

The race start in the shadows of the spectacular central square of Leuven and ends with three circuits of a hilly 23.4km loop. Each one includes the Hagaard, Hertstraat, Holstheide, Ijsklerdaam climbs, with and the final Schavei - 720m long with a maximum gradient of 11 percent.

An early break shaped much of the race, with Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar), Mattia Pozzo and Giorgio Cecchinel (Neri Sottoli), Matthias Brändle (IAM), Christopher Williams (Novo Nordisk) and Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare) spending much of the day out front.

They opened a maximum lead of 6:50, but the Lotto Belisol and Garmin-Sharp teams led the chase and the gap was down to just over a minute with two laps to go.

The climbs sparked constant attacks, with Kevin Reza (Europcar) very aggressive. He was joined by Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) and several others with 25km to go, seemingly launching the attack that would go onto fight for victory. However Gilbert had missed the move and BMC had other ideas. The six break riders worked well together as the climbs and kilometres ticked down, but BMC was even stronger and then Gilbert tried to jump across the 15-second gap alone.

He didn't make it and was caught by an equally aggressive peloton, but that put the break within range and the whole race came back together with 10km to go.

Several riders tried further attacks but BMC, Orica-GreenEdge and Giant-Shimano were now riding as units and hoping for a sprint finish.

Wout Poels (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) tried to split the peloton on the final climb but he was kept in check.

A group of 20 or so riders took the final climb and the final corner together into the finishing straight. Gilbert was the only former winner in the race and clearly knew the finish well. He lead out along the left side of the road, forcing Matthews to go around him as he tried a late surge. However, Gilbert timed his own sprint perfectly and hung on to win by less than a wheel.

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