Philippe Gilbert was sixth at last week’s Amstel Gold Race, third at Wednesday’s La Fleche Walloone, and will start Sunday’s third and final race of the Ardennes Classics, Liege Bastogne Liege, with something approaching the form that carried him to an Ardennes hat-trick last season.

Another improvement of three places on his previous outing will see him defend last year’s victory at La Doyenne, where, as a member of a three-man breakaway, he overcame the numerical advantage held by the Schleck brothers to sprint to victory.

Is three the magic number for Gilbert? It has been for at least three other cyclists. Could the varied hat-tricks of Steven Roche, Sir Chris Hoy, and Oscar Freire portend good things for the Belgian champion on Sunday? Here’s a quick run down of the three star achievements of our illustrious trio.

Steven Roche wins the Triple Crown in 1987

The achievements of Roche’s 1987 season are matched only by one other rider (a little-known Belgian called Merckx). A Giro won against the odds, and the efforts of his own team, established Roche as a contender for the Tour, in which he duly delivered a memorable victory made possible in part by a unforgettably dogged performance on the slopes of La Plagne. A nation considered lucky by repute, Ireland’s (and Roche’s) victory at the world road race championships two months later had little to do with chance or fortune, and much to do with the determination of Martin Earley, Paul Kimmage, and particularly of Sean Kelly, who ignored the goading of Moreno Argentin to chase down Roche and force a sprint in which he might have gained the rainbow jersey for himself to allow his friend and countryman to sprint from a breakaway to victory.

Chris Hoy wins three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Hoy tripled his gold medal tally from the 2004 Athens Olympics in Beijing with a hat-trick of victories that made him the outstanding British athlete of the entire Games: some feat given his teammates’ record medal haul and the galaxy of talent alongside (Wiggins, Pendleton, Thomas et al). His final gold at Beijing came in the individual sprint at the expense of Jason Kenny, whom Hoy defeated in contests held over three laps. Hoy won his second gold of the Games in the keirin, and his first in the men’s team sprint. Hoy’s position? Man three, naturally.

Milan-San Remo hat-trick for three-time world road race champion, Oscar Freire

Victory in just one world road race championship is a career defining moment. Consider three multiple Tour De France winners who pulled on the rainbow jersey only once: Hinault, Lemond, and Armstrong. The achievement, then, of Oscar Freire, only the fourth man ever to become a three-time world champion (1999, 2001, and 2004), equaling the record of Binda, Van Steenbergen, and Merckx, is particularly impressive. The Spaniard has another notable hat-trick on his palmares: three victories at Milan-San Remo (2004, 2007, and 2010).