Philippe Gilbert admitted that he is unlikely to match Jan Lars' record of five wins going into Sunday's final round of the Amstel Gold Race.

The Lot Soudal (open in new tab) rider recorded his best result of the season with a 10th place finish in last weekend's Volta Limburg Classic, but was limited due to illness in the early spring. The Amstel Gold Race (open in new tab) will be more of an emotional farewell than a victory attempt. [Gilbert (opens in new tab) told RTBF (opens in new tab), "It seems a little early for me."

"I think my form is coming back, which is interesting, but I don't think it's enough to win a difficult and competitive race like this one.

"This race is often the highest level of the season. This is because the Flemish Classics athletes and the Ardennes specialists are mixed in the peloton. It's a rendezvous of all the Classics specialists. That's why there is always great competition in the Amstel Gold Race.

Gilbert has won four of Procycling's five monuments, with only Milan-San Remo missing from his list, but his dexterity probably makes him the perfect prototype for the Amstel Gold Race.

Rider Lot Soudal has also accomplished the feat of winning the race in three different formats: first in 2010 and 2011, when the race finished at the top of the Cauberg, and in 2014, when the finish line moved 1 km from the summit He won the race.

In 2017, Gilbert won at the finish of what is now Berg en Terblit, a victory that came two weeks after his remarkable solo victory in the Tour de Flanders. Gilbert won the 2012 World Championships in Valkenburg, attacking in the final time in Cauberg.

"This is certainly one of the races I will miss," said Gilbert, who is retiring at the end of this season.

"It's a special race and it suits me very well. It requires knowledge of the course and experience, and I'm training in Limburg, Holland."

"It's a very special race and it suits me very well."

"I'm very happy to be here.

"When I lived in Belgium, I loved going there to train. For those reasons I miss this race."

Gilbert, who now lives in Monaco, grew up in Verviers and used Liège-Bastogne-Liège as his playground. However, despite his attachment to the Ardennes Classique, Gilbert's only successes came in the miracle year of 2011, with victories in Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

As his career neared its end, Gilbert said it was "hard to choose" between the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"I prefer the results of the Amstel Gold Race. I'm more focused on the Flemish Classics because at some point in my career I started to focus more on the Flemish Classics," he said. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it again," he said. Classics like Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with its 4200m of climbing, are for climbers. In Liège, legs are more important than in the Amstel Gold Race, where technique and tactics are also important."