Philippe Gilbert, Natsumi Hayashi. Going up.

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Philippe Gilbert, Natsumi Hayashi. Going up.

A tribute to Gilbert.

Rise, Philippe Gilbert. As Red Kite Prayer put it, he’s “done what was truly unthinkable.”

What the man from Omega Pharma Lotto did was more than a hat-trick, a quadruple-trick. Winning all four races of the Ardennes Week—Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He rode smart, he took risks, he dominated, he won with style even Eddy Merckx is gushing with admiration.

And so we celebrate the supreme heights of his talent and his ascension to the top of the UCI rankings with The Girl Who Loves To Levitate. Natsumi Hayashi takes self portraits of her jumps all over Tokyo.

Her photo gallery is our small handclap to Gilbert who has taken his riding to another level. The one where everyone else is looking up.

By |2019-02-03T16:20:53-08:00April 25th, 2011|Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Omega Pharma Lotto, Philippe Gilbert|4 Comments

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4 Comments

  1. Henkio April 25, 2011 at 12:11 pm - Reply

    They tell you everybody is equal.
    They tell you that you can reach anything if you put your mind to it and work for it.
    They tell you you're only limited by your own ambition.

    Then you watch a few weeks of cycling in April and see Phillipe Gilbert.
    Then you realize that some people are simply better than others.

    These last weeks were humbling. In a good way.

    • TwistedSpoke April 25, 2011 at 4:36 pm - Reply

      If he is riding clean — and everyone is pretty confident he is — than he's a pretty amazing, gifted and hard working guy. A gift to pro cycling. Matt

  2. Sam April 25, 2011 at 1:56 pm - Reply

    Of course Merckx is gushing with admiration…Gilbert did something truly extaordinary…but I think it could be that Gilbert is from the same French speaking part of Belgium as Merckx, not the Flanders portion where so many other Belgian hardmen came from.

    • TwistedSpoke April 25, 2011 at 4:41 pm - Reply

      Sam, good to hear from you. Yup, The French speakers stick together. btw — my knee is finally getting better! Matt

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