BMC Racing’s Philippe Gilbert has withdrawn from the Tour de Suisse and will not compete at the Tour de France next month, the team announced Tuesday, citing a “small, non-displaced fracture on Gilbert’s lower leg.”
The announcement comes three days after Gilbert arrived at the start of the Tour de Suisse questioning if he was there to earn a spot on BMC’s Tour de France team, though he is fresh off winning two stages at the Giro d’Italia.
Gilbert told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday he was still waiting for word on his Tour de France selection, adding that it was affecting his mental preparation.
“It’s hard to motivate yourself when you have no insight into your program,” Gilbert told Het Nieuwsblad. “Do they want me there? I have heard nothing. You should call [BMC team manager Jim] Ochowicz. Do you have his number? I think this is already a very bizarre situation. No, I do not understand their approach.”
The former world champion intimated then that his pair of stage wins at the Giro, as well as finishing second in the points competition, meant he should not have to prove his form this week at the Tour de Suisse in order to be selected for the Tour de France.
“I’m not a neo-pro anymore,” said Gilbert, who turns 33 on July 5. “I have nothing more to prove, especially after my two stage victories in the Giro. [BMC Racing management] refuse to show me that confidence. I am fresh after the Giro, I climbed better than ever without having to overdo it. Furthermore, there are many opportunities for me in the first week of the Tour. I’m here [at the Tour de Suisse] to try to show that I’m good.”
However on Tuesday, a BMC team statement announced that a recent MRI had shown a small fracture to Gilbert’s postero-lateral tibia head, which led to knee pain. The team added that the fracture was “likely related to his crash at La Flèche Wallonne in April,” which came several weeks before his two Giro stage wins.
In the same statement, Ochowicz said he and Gilbert had spoken and mutually agreed the 2012 world champion would not participate in this year’s Tour de France.
“We had a productive and open discussion regarding his current health and the second part of his season and goals,” Ochowicz said. “The eight riders that we do select to support Tejay van Garderen will be chosen based on current health and performance. We want the best eight candidates at the start in Utrecht and right now Philippe is not at his best.”
Gilbert was also quoted in the team statement, saying that, while he was disappointed to miss the Tour, he is already looking ahead to big goals for the latter part of the season. (Audio recording can be heard here.)
“Of course, I was motivated for the Tour because it is going to pass in a part of Belgium and there is also the nice finish on the Mur de Huy,” he said. “But the Tour de France is every year. It is not like I am missing something like the Olympic Games. So every year you have a chance to do it and I have already done it a few times and have had a lot of success at this race already.
“Also, a big goal for me is always the worlds and Il Lombardia, which is one of the nicest classics of the season,” Gilbert said. “I know with these problems, I can maybe go to the Tour, but not at 100 percent. Even if I do this, I will finish the Tour completely empty and that will mean I will do everything — the Tour and the end of the season — at 80 percent. So at this point, I have to make a choice to skip the Tour. My first objective is to feel healthy again and not feel the pain anymore.”
Gilbert’s current contract with BMC runs through the 2016 season. He last rode the Tour in 2013. In 2011, he won the first stage and held the yellow jersey for one stage.
Ochowicz said the team expects to announce its nine-man roster for the race sometime after the Tour de Suisse, which ends Sunday.
Thank you to Royaldoctors to help me to find the reasons of the pain and @BMCProTeam to let me recover. pic.twitter.com/bC35eVF6oX
— PHILIPPE GILBERT (@PhilippeGilbert) June 16, 2015
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