season by winning the ninth stage of the Vuelta a España after breaking away together with Rodríguez. He later won a second stage of the race, winning stage nineteen on 7 September. On 23 September 2012, Gilbert won the UCI Elite Men's Road Race world championship and the rainbow jersey, ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen and Alejandro Valverde by producing a massive surge on the final climb of the Cauberg. 2013 season In 2013, Gilbert headed towards the World Championships without a single win in the rainbow jersey, in danger of his first winless season since turning professional in 2003. He started the Vuelta a España hoping that the competition would, for the second successive year, kick-start his season. After being narrowly defeated in a sprint by Zdeněk Štybar on stage 7, Gilbert finally clinched a victory in the rainbow stripes when he caught and passed Edvald Boasson Hagen to win stage 12. 2014 season In 2014, Gilbert picked up his previous form when in the spring he won his second Brabantse Pijl and his third Amstel Gold Race. 2015 season Gilbert finished third at Brabantse Pijl, seconds after his teammate Ben Hermans. At the Amstel Gold Race, Gilbert could not repeat his winning ways of 2014 and came in tenth after having attacked on the final climb of the day, the Cauberg. On the next Wednesday, Gilbert crashed out of La Flèche Wallonne. He then took part in Liège–Bastogne–Liège even though he was slightly injured and held on to the main group until the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, where he was dropped and finished 36th. He scored his first victory of the season at the Giro d'Italia, besting the lead group on a sharp incline at the end of Stage 12. He repeated on Stage 18, where he participated in the early break. After being dropped on the last climb of the day, he came back to the remnants of the breakaway after the descent and attacked them to win solo. 2016 season Gilbert took his first victory of the season in February at the one-day race Vuelta a Murcia, winning the sprint of a four-man group. He won the Belgian National Road Race Championships in June. Quick-Step Floors (2017–19) 2017 season After 5 seasons with BMC, Gilbert joined for the 2017 season. Gilbert finished second in the Dwars door Vlaanderen behind teammate Yves Lampaert. The pair made the race-defining