Gilbert continues hot streak in Piemonte

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Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) won his third consecutive race of the last fortnight when he took out the Giro del Piemonte today in Fossano, Italy.

He overcame in-form Spaniard Daniel Moreno (Caisse d'Epargne) and Italian stayer Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-NGC) in the sprint finale, adding to his Coppa Sabatini and Paris-Tours wins.

"I'm in the best condition of my entire life," said Gilbert after the finish; judging by his list of victories of late, the Belgian isn't far off the mark, something that must please his employers, who have endured a lean run for most of the season.

With a lone rider - Acqua e Sapone's Alessandro Donati - off the front for most of the day and teams looking to get into a significant move, the peloton was a nervous place to be. 'The big break' never eventuated, adding to the potential for fireworks in the closing stages of the race.

Having gained an advantage in excess of 10 minutes, Donati was joined by Oleksandr Kvachuk (ISD Neri) although the pair was caught with about 20km remaining thanks to the efforts of Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni, which had its man Michele Scarponi waiting in the wings.

It was the type of scenario tailor-made for Gilbert, the Belgian given a sniff of another victory courtesy of the indecisiveness taking hold of the big teams - was it time to set up their sprinter or send their strongmen off the front for a last-ditch effort at a solo triumph.

Eventually it was Silence-Lotto's man-of-the-moment who made the big move, attacking the peloton in the final 1.5km and holding on to the finish. While the big names for Sunday's Giro di Lombardia were content to watch the proceedings from afar, Gilbert snapped up the opportunity to continue his fantastic late-season run.

"Now I want to try to win in Lombardy," said Gilbert afterwards. "I don't know the route well but I'm going to see it tomorrow."

While Cadel Evans will start Sunday's season-closing event as one of the favourites, Gilbert believes he's capable of adding to the team's tally of hits over the past month. "The Ghisallo is hard, but the Civiglio and San Fermo are important too, more suitable to my legs,"he explained.

And for good measure he added an ominous warning to his rivals: "When I have a condition like this, no course is too hard for me. I can win them all."