It was a dream comeback for Philippe Gilbert today as he won the Grand Prix d’Isbergues – his first race in two months – after attacking from kilometre zero. It was his first outing since suffering a serious knee injury on stage 16 of the Tour de France.
“I’ve worked so hard to get back here today. Honestly, there have been some difficult moments when I have been at home fighting to make this comeback,” said Gilbert. “I have had a great team around me at home but you still have to do the work yourself, to put in the energy and focus.
“After my crash, some of the most positive opinions I heard were that I should be happy if I were back on the bike within four months. Now I am already back after two months and I took my first victory of the season. My goal was to get a win in this last part of the season. I know it was a bit crazy and 99% of the riders would probably just be happy to come back, but I really believed I could do it.”
Fifteen years after making his first appearance at the French event, Gilbert returned as part of a strong Quick-Step Floors squad and immediately animated the race which took place in heavy rain that forced the organisers to cut the course to 175 kilometres.
The inclement weather didn’t stop the 36-year-old from attacking early and forcing an important selection, a strong 18-man group – which featured also teammate and Textielprijs Vichte winner Florian Sénéchal – emerging from the peloton after the first kilometres.
The gap between the leaders and the bunch hovered at all times around three minutes, but with the escapees working well together, that margin couldn’t be erased by the pack, who all that could do was reduce it to two minutes inside the final 40 kilometres. That was the cue for Gilbert to accelerate again, taking just seven riders with him, before another surge, this time with 20 kilometres to go, that saw him get clear together with Christophe Laporte (Cofidis).
As the duo opened a 20-second gap on the chasers, Sénéchal rode away from the second group and pushed on until he could see the leaders under the flamme rouge arch. That allowed Gilbert to play it cool in the finale, before launching the sprint and taking his first victory of the season, on a perfect day for Quick-Step Floors, which Sénéchal rounded off by finishing third.
“The weather was really tough, especially in the final, when the temperatures dropped, but I actually felt good and was really confident. When attacking with Laporte, we took advantage of the slippery roads from the rain and some tricky corners by going to the limit a few times, and in the last kilometres, seeing that Florian was coming from behind, I could save a bit of energy. In the final, I just felt I couldn’t lose.”
