Philippe Gilbert got slightly closer to Tony Martin in the overall standings at the Tour of Belgium when he finished third in today's fourth stage of the race. However, the Belgian expects that he needs to combine forces with Tom Dumoulin and Sylvain Chavanel to put the race leader under pressure in tomorrow's queen satge.
BMC Racing Team's Philippe Gilbert finished third and took the lead in the points classification Saturday at the Baloise Belgium Tour while teammate Greg Van Avermaet finished ninth and Silvan Dillier was in a late breakaway.
André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) took the stage win ahead of Roman Maikin (RusVelo) and Gilbert after Dillier was caught with five kilometers to go in the 177.7-kilometer race.
"We wanted to make the race hard, but it wasn't easy with the big roads, so we waited for the local laps," Gilbert said.
Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) kept the overall lead while Gilbert remains fourth, 41 seconds back ahead of the final stage, a 178.7-km race Sunday on an undulating circuit. Gilbert said it might take a combined effort by the two riders ahead of him on the overall classification – Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant-Shimano) and Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) – to unseat Martin.
"We are all three in the same position, so we can try to gang up against Omega Pharma-Quick Step," the past world road champion said.
Dillier, who was fourth in Friday's individual time trial, showed his strength with 60 km to go, attacking out of the peloton and taking two others with him in bridging to the day's breakaway of three riders.
"It was really a great ride for Silvan," BMC Racing Team Sporting Manager Allan Peiper said. "We wanted to make it a hard race and at least try for the stage win."
After soloing away from his fellow escapees with 10 km to go and gaining 15 seconds, Dillier was finally reeled by the chasing efforts of Martin's team.
"We had to put some pressure on all the other teams," the reigning Swiss national elite road and time trial champion said. "My attack was pretty far front he finish, but I think it was still a good move. I almost made it to the final kilometers to be competitive for a victory."
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