Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour. A Classics specialist, Gilbert has won several classic cycle races, including Paris–Tours twice (2008, 2009), the Giro di Lombardia twice (2009, 2010), the Amstel Gold Race four times (2010, 2011, 2014, 2017), La Flèche Wallonne (2011), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (2011), the Clásica de San Sebastián (2011), the Tour of Flanders (2017), and Paris–Roubaix (2019). He is the second person (and first Belgian) in history to win all three Ardennes classics in a single year. In 2017, Gilbert became the third rider after Eddy Merckx (1975) and Jan Raas (1979) to win both the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel Gold Race in the same year. He has also won stages at each of the three cycling Grand Tours: three stages at the Giro d'Italia (one in 2009 and two in 2015), one stage at the Tour de France (in 2011), and seven stages at the Vuelta a España (two in both 2010 and 2012, one in 2013 and two in 2019). Gilbert retired as a professional, after the 2022 Paris–Tours. He celebrated his retirement in Valkenburg aan de Geul where he became world champion and won four Amstel Gold Races. He was honoured with a mural in the caves of the Cauberg. Personal life Gilbert currently resides in Monaco. With his ex-wife Patricia Zevaert he has two sons, born 2010 and 2013. Gilbert's younger brother Jérôme has also been a racing cyclist. Gilbert committed to serve world peace through sport by joining Peace and Sport. During the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Flanders, he was elected to a four-year term as a representative for road cycling on the Union Cycliste Internationale Athletes' Commission, winning 66 percent of the vote. Career FDJeux.com (2003–08) First three seasons Born in Remouchamps in the municipality of Aywaille, Gilbert turned professional in 2003 by joining after riding as stagiaire for the team in late 2000. During this season he recorded his first victory by winning a