Philippe Gilbert

Belgian cyclist and 2012 World Road Race Champion who won four of cycling's five Monuments, including a rare sweep of all three Ardennes Classics in a single season in 2011.

Born on 5 July 1982 in Remouchamps, Belgium, Philippe Gilbert built his career as one of the sport's premier Classics specialists. His breakthrough came in the Ardennes Classics, the demanding one-day races through the hilly borderlands of eastern Belgium near his hometown. Gilbert's 2011 season remains one of the greatest single campaigns by a Classics rider in cycling history: within the space of ten spring days, he won the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, becoming only the second rider ever, after Davide Rebellin in 2004, to sweep all three Ardennes Classics in one season. He also won the yellow jersey for a day at that year's Tour de France and finished as the season's overall UCI World Tour champion. In 2012, Gilbert won the World Road Race Championship in Valkenburg, timing a decisive attack on the Cauberg climb to hold off Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen and Spain's Alejandro Valverde. He went on to add two more Monuments later in his career: the Tour of Flanders in 2017 and Paris-Roubaix in 2019, joining Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck and Rik Van Looy as one of only four riders to have won four of the five Monuments — with only Milan-San Remo missing from his collection. Gilbert also won the Giro di Lombardia twice (2009, 2010) and the Amstel Gold Race four times, and won stages at all three Grand Tours across his 20-year professional career. He retired in 2022 without completing the full set of Monuments, having chased his elusive Milan-San Remo victory in his final seasons.

Explosive Classics specialist with a devastating finishing kick on short, steep climbs

One of only four riders in history to win four different cycling Monuments