Today, World Champion Philippe Gilbert finally broke the rainbow jersey curse. He took his first victory since last year’s world championship (September 23rd). The Belgian is glad to get rid of all the frustrations he has had.

“I’ve trained so hard this year but I’ve been frustrated by not winning until today… However, I never lost my motivation or the trust by my team, my friends and my family. With the World’s coming up, I was feeling the pressure and that makes me even happier to win today. Like last year, my first victory of the season happens in Catalunya, maybe I should consider riding the Volta Catalunya [his last participation was in 2005].”

Gilbert won the stage ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Maximiliano Richeze (Lampre-Merida). The Belgian has learnt from his defeat on 7th stage and knew that this time he could win.

“With Edvald who is one of the strongest guys in the world, you can never be sure to have the situation under control, but I always remained focused on my sprint. I knew I had everything to come back on him. I got a good draft. I still had in mind my defeat against [Zdenek] Stybar [on stage 7] so I put in my mind that I could win or lose, but I didn’t want to lose by one or two centimeters again.”

"When you start (sprinting) so early, it's never easy, because there is still like 20 seconds to the line, a long time," Gilbert said. "It's also where I am the strongest. I knew if I went full gas, I could make it. I passed him and it happened. It was like a dream. It was amazing."

Now, when he has broken the curse, he thinks it is better winning in the rainbow jersey.

“With the world champion jersey, it’s definitely better! It’s my first time. It’s really special. It’s a very great moment.”

After taking his first win in 2013, Gilbert is looking forward to the World’s and knows that the pressure is higher after his win today. But he won’t take the role as favourite. He is of the opinion that there are many favourites, especially the Spaniards.

“A lot of pressure will come with this victory. I can imagine a lot of people saying that I can win again. But there’s no need to put any extra pressure on me. I’m not the only favourite. I can easily come up with ten names of favourites: Cancellara, Sagan, many Spaniards like Valverde, Rodriguez, Sanchez, Moreno… I don’t see why I’d be the only favourite.”

When you win the world’s, everybody has a look on you and Gilbert has really felt the difference between being at world champion and before he did.

“Already when I rode the Tour Down Under in Australia, I realized that everything was different. You look more important in people’s eyes. It makes everything harder. As world champion, you have to be even more careful of what you do and what you say.”

Gilbert’s teammate, Italian national time trial champion Marco Pinotti withdrew from the race before the start, suffering from a sinus infection. Pinotti said he had not been feeling well before Wednesday's individual time trial in which he finished 25th, 3:14 off the winning time.

"We decided it was best to pull out and try to recover because this might be the only chance I have to participate in the world championship team time trial and the individual time trial," Pinotti said. "I am disappointed, of course. But I want to be philosophical and say I could have tried to start. But for sure it doesn't get better. It's difficult to get healthy racing."