Clearly it wasn’t enough for Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Philippe Gilbert to have won the Amstel Gold Classic last Sunday (April 17) as he yesterday stormed home to take another win at the Flèche Wallonne making it an impressive two Ardennes Classic victories in just three days. The Belgian’s late attack with less than 300m left to go on the summit finish saw him crack this 75th edition of the race in a time of 4:54:57, with Spain’s Joaquim Rodríguez Olivier in second place on +3 for Team Katusha and the 2008 Olympic Road Race champion Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) third on +5.
Gilbert later admitted to still feeling fatigued from last Sunday’s Amstel Gold (we certainly couldn’t tell) but remains cagily optimistic about his chances of winning three for three in this coming Sunday’s final chapter of the Ardennes Classics (Liège-Bastogne-Liège) commenting his chances: “It’s not impossible, I don’t rule out winning.”
Meanwhile in the 109.5k Flèche Wallonne Féminine – which covers the same ascents as the men’s course but with two, instead of three, climbs over Mur de Huy – Marianne Vos hit first in 2:58:27 making her the only woman ever to have won the event four times.
