Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Smart Racing Can make a World of Difference

The Montepaschi Strade Bianchi was this weekend. It's a pretty cool race. They had a stage during the Giro last year in similar area on similar roads and it was epic!

Today was good weather and good racing. The video below shows the last 15 minutes of the race, but what I think is most impressive happens in the last 2 minutes. Philippe Gilbert has been riding about 5 spots back from the front until this point and then, knowing what he has to do, comes to the front and controls the race all the way to the finish line.

What's most impressive to me here is not necessarily his show of power. He does power up the steep finishing climb, which allows him to take the position he needs, but the finishing touch comes when selects his line through the narrow roads. Even when it looks like Ballan (BMC, in red) is going to overtake him, Gilbert keeps his cool and sticks to his game plan. The result...I'll let you see for yourself.




An excellent win in excellent style, if I do say so myself.

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