With a 2nd place in today's Brabantse Pijl, Philippe Gilbert (BMC) proved that he is ready for his major objectives in the Ardennes classics. Once again doubting his own level prior to his biggest targets, he got massive confidence boost by today's performance.

Like last year, world champion Philippe Gilbert has struggled to find his best form and until today is best result in the rainbow jersey was a second place in the penultimate stage of the Paris-Nice. Recognizing his lack of fitness, he chose to skip the Tour of Flanders to work on his condition in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco instead.

The decision proved to be a wise one as Gilbert looked like his former self in today's Brabantse Pijl. He was beaten by an amazing Peter Sagan (Cannondale) but the defeat was a minor concern on a day where he was happy to see the results of his hard work in the Basque Country.

"It is always better to win, but we did a great race and we played our cards in the final," he said. "It also gives a lot of confidence to the team and to myself as well. But it's always better to win, for sure."

"If you race to win, it is unfortunate to be defeated," he continued. "On the other hand, I am now sure that I amde the right choice by including the Vuelta al Pais Vasco in my schedule. My fitness level has seriously increased. Hopefully, I will be able to take a beautiful victory in one of the upcoming races."

Gilbert had initiated today's decisive move as he and teammate Greg Van Avermaet went on the attack with 18km remaining. Joined by Sagan, Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano) and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), they closed the gap to an early 6-man move and then tried to use their numerical advantage in the final.

Van Avermaet attacked inside the final 2km which forced Sagan to close down the move while Gilbert was able to sit back and let the Slovakian do the work. Nonetheless, the Cannondale leader had the power to beat the world champion in the final sprint.

With Sagan having done plenty of work, Gilbert was confident that he could win the sprint but had to recognize that he had no chance against the explosive Slovakian.

 "I was confident for the sprint because I was already on his wheel the last five kilometers and I was very focused," Gilbert said. "It was so close."

"Here I was beaten by a strong Sagan, but he is a super talent," he continued. "As a team, we did an excellent race. Greg was a great help in my effort to join the front group, and with his attack inside the final kilometres, we were in an ideal position. He could win if Sagan did not respond, and I could sit behind Peter. That is what happened but in the sprint he was too strong. I do now think it had made much of a difference if I had waited a little longer before opening up the sprint. Against Peter's explosiveness, I have no chance."

Van Avermaet happy with classics season

Van Avermaet has been close to the victory in a number of races and has saved an otherwise disappointing first part of the classics season for the BMC team. His victory in the Paris-Tours is the only major one-day victory for the incredibly consistent Belgian but inside the final kilometer of today's race he thought that he was finally about to get another important win.

"I thought that this time it could happen," Van Avermaet said after his 6th place. "If they had hesitated a litlle bit longer, I could have won. However, Sagan timed it perfectly. On the last steep part he came back and then you know that you have lost. I still hoped that Philippe could finish it off but in a final like this one Sagan is almost unbeatable."

With the Paris-Roubaix in his legs, the Belgian did not feel well in the early part of the race.

"At the beginning of the race, I wasn't feeling so good," he said. "But after I attacked with Philippe on my wheel, I still had good legs. We did some good teamwork to attack there."

Van Avermaet usually skips Paris-Roubaix to contest all three of the Ardennes classics. This year he made a last-minute adjustment to his schedule to include the Hell of the North in his program and hence he expects to end his classics campaign a little earlier than usual.

With a 3rd place in Gent-Wevelgem, 7th in the Tour of Flanders, 4th in the Paris-Roubaix and 6th in today's race, he is, however, happy with his results.

"I think the Amstel Gold Race will be my last race this spring with which I am satisfied," he explained. "I have been a part of all the finals and have got some nice results. I did not win but in all races it was usually Sagan or Cancellara who won. Those two are the biggest names in this classics season, and for the rest of us there was usually not more to fight for than a place of honour. Of the remaining riders, I was maybe the most consistent.

Lelangue confident in his team ahead of the Ardennes classics

Sports director John Lelangue was another one to be very relieved to see his most important Ardennes riders shine so close to their major objectives.

"Guys like Martin Kohler, Klaas Lodewyck, Danilo Wyss and Adam Blythe did a heck of a job protecting Phil and Greg and then launching them with two laps to go," he said. "I was really happy with what I saw today. We maybe didn't win, but most important is to come out of this race with confidence. We also showed we made the right choice to have Greg race here and at Paris-Roubaix and for Philippe to skip the Tour of Flanders and come here with good preparation from País Vasco."

The team will try to get its revenge on Sunday in the Amstel Gold Race.