Greg Van Avermaet (born 17 May 1985) is a retired Belgian professional cyclist. Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling,[4] Van Avermaet was a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also won stages and the general classification in stage races, particularly when run on a hilly terrain, such as the 2016 Tirreno–Adriatico,[5] and the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire. His strong sprint finish enabled him to win sprints of small lead groups, but he has also won races after solo breakaways.[6]
For the 2021 season, Van Avermaet joined the AG2R Citroën Team on a three-year contract.[9] He retired from racing in 2023, and his last race was the Paris-Tours.
Career
Early life and amateur career
Greg Van Avermaet was born into a cycling family; both his father and grandfather were professional cyclists.[10] He was named after American cyclist Greg LeMond since his father "was a fan".[11] He started bike racing at the age of 19, having previously played football as a goalkeeper for SK Beveren.[12] He is a former brother-in-law of Glenn D'Hollander, also a former professional cyclist. In 2006, at 21, he became Belgian amateur champion on the Bodysol–Win for Life–Jong Vlaanderen team.
2007–2010: Silence/Omega Pharma–Lotto
2007
In 2007 he signed his first professional contract for the Predictor–Lotto UCI ProTeam and won four races in his maiden year.[13] In the Tour of Qatar, his first professional race for his new team, he won stage 5 in the sprint of a breakaway group, followed by a number of good finishes in smaller races. His results earned him a place in the line-up for the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix – his best result being 29th in Roubaix. A few months later he won a stage in the Tour de Wallonie, as well as the prestigious one-day race Rund um die Hainleite in Germany and the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen in Belgium.[14][15] He entered his first world championships, in Stuttgart, finishing 63rd in the road race.
2009 proved to be a difficult year, with one win, the Heistse Pijl, and several near-wins. He made his first appearance in the Tour de France, with fourth and seventh places in the latter stages as best results. He finished the Tour de France in 89th place overall.
In 2011 he joined BMC Racing Team. After starting his season in the Tour of Qatar, he ran a remarkable campaign in the spring classics, in which he was one of the most attacking riders. Ninth place in Milan–San Remo and seventh in Liège–Bastogne–Liège were his best results. After the spring classics, he finished second in the Tour of Belgium.
In summer, he claimed his first victories for his new team. He won a stage and the points classification in the Tour of Austria,[21] and he won the overall classification and final stage in the Tour de Wallonie.[22] He entered the Eneco Tour and Vuelta a España in which he gained several top-20 stage results. In October he claimed his first classic victory, after beating Marco Marcato in a two-man sprint in Paris–Tours.[23] He finished the season with a second place in the Giro del Piemonte and twelfth in the Tour of Lombardy.
Later in the campaign, Van Avermaet took eighth place in the Clásica San Sebastián and fifth overall in the Eneco Tour, as well as one stage win. He finished fifth in the GP de Quebec – his third consecutive top-5 finish in Quebec – and seventh in the GP de Montréal.[40] In September, Van Avermaet won the 1.HC-ranked Grand Prix de Wallonie; he was part of a four-strong breakaway and, with the peloton on their heels, Van Avermaet attacked in the final uphill bends to claim his second win of the season.[41] Three days later, he won the GP Impanis-Van Petegem, earning him the leadership in the Belgian line-up for the World championships in Ponferrada, Spain.[42] He was in the winning breakaway of the road race together with his BMC Racing Team teammate and fellow Belgian Philippe Gilbert, but was unable to answer an ultimate attack from Michał Kwiatkowski and finished fifth.[43] He ended the season with 39th place in Paris–Tours.[44]
At the end of 2014 he earned his third Flandrien of the year award as best Belgian rider of the year.[45]
2015: Classics specialist and Tour de France stage win
In May, in his build-up to the Tour de France, Van Avermaet won both the final stage and the overall classification in the Tour of Belgium.[52] He took part in the Tour de Suisse, finishing sixth on the Prologue and third in stage 4.[53] He entered the Tour de France, in which he helped the BMC Racing Team win the team time trial on Stage 9. On 17 July 2015, he won stage 13, his first individual Tour de France stage win. He outsprinted the green jersey wearer Peter Sagan, and fellow Belgian Jan Bakelants on an uphill finish in Rodez.[54] He withdrew from the race three days later to witness the birth of his first daughter.[55]
Less than two weeks later, on 1 August 2015, Van Avermaet looked on his way to victory in the Clásica de San Sebastián, when he was hit from behind by one of the motorbikes providing television coverage just before the top of the final climb. Suffering a broken bike frame, he was unable to finish and saw Adam Yates win the race.[56] In the aftermath of the incident, his BMC Racing Team claimed the crash had cost him victory and threatened legal action over "millions of dollars in lost publicity".[57] A few days later he entered the Eneco Tour and finished second overall, trailing winner Tim Wellens by a minute.[58]
In his preparation for the world championships he placed fifth in the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg and entered the Laurentian Classics in Canada.[59] Considered a favourite in the world road race title in Richmond, he attacked on Libby Hill, the final climb of the race, but was overtaken by Peter Sagan and narrowly failed to stay in his wheel. His attempts to catch Sagan failed as his chase companion Edvald Boasson Hagen was not allowed to work in the pursuit and both were caught by the returning peloton in the final kilometer.[60][61] Van Avermaet finished 23rd.[62] His last race of the season was Paris–Tours, where he was in the winning three-man breakaway and the favourite to win the sprint, when he punctured just one kilometer from the line and finished third.[63] At the end of the year, Van Avermaet was awarded both the Crystal Bicycle and Flandrien of the Year awards as best Belgian cyclist of the year,[64][65] and was second in the Belgian Sportsman of the year poll behind footballer Kevin De Bruyne.[66]
On 6 August 2016, Van Avermaet won the men's individual road race at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[8] He initially joined a six-man breakaway on the first of three passes of the 25.7-kilometre (16.0 mi) Vista Chinesa Circuit loop, and managed to stay in contact with several climbing specialists on the next ascents. Van Avermaet was distanced by Vincenzo Nibali, Sergio Henao and Rafał Majka on the final climb, but after Nibali and Henao crashed out of the race on the final descent, Van Avermaet tandemed with Jakob Fuglsang to catch Majka on the run-in to the finish.[80][81] Van Avermaet won the three-man sprint on Copacabana Beach before Fuglsang and Majka to claim the Olympic gold medal.[82][83]
2017: King of the spring classics and world number one
After suffering an ankle fracture during the winter,[88] Van Avermaet started his 2017 campaign in February at the Tour of the Valencian Community,[89] in which his BMC Racing Team won the opening team time trial.[90] Later in February he rode the Tour of Oman, before competing in the opening weekend of Belgian races. He won his second consecutive Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, again after beating Peter Sagan in a three-man sprint in Ghent;[91] and finished seventh in Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne the next day.[92]
As usual, he proceeded his spring campaign in the Italian races Strade Bianche, in which he finished second behind Michał Kwiatkowski;[93]Tirreno–Adriatico, in which his BMC Racing Team won the team time trial and he moved into the race lead for one day;[94] and was 21st in Milan–San Remo.[95] On 24 March, Van Avermaet won E3 Harelbeke in a three-man sprint with Philippe Gilbert and Oliver Naesen.[96] Two days later, he continued his winning streak with victory in Gent–Wevelgem in a two-man sprint against Jens Keukeleire.[97] The pairing had broken away from a select group of riders on the run-in towards Wevelgem.[98][99] Van Avermaet became the second rider to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke and Gent–Wevelgem in the same season, after Jan Raas in 1981, and moved into the lead of the UCI World Tour.[100]
Still seeking his first win in a monument classic, he was favourite for the Tour of Flanders, but crashed on the final ascent of Oude Kwaremont together with Peter Sagan as they were chasing Philippe Gilbert. Halted in his pursuit, he finished second behind his former teammate Gilbert.[101] On 9 April 2017, Van Avermaet won Paris–Roubaix, claiming his first career monument victory.[102] After suffering a mechanical failure at 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the finish and a 22-kilometre (14 mi) chase to return to the peloton, he made the decisive move with 30 kilometres (19 miles) to go. He broke away with five others on the cobbled sector of Templeuve-en-Pévèle in pursuit of his teammate Daniel Oss. After the sector of Carrefour de l'Arbre, only Zdeněk Štybar and Sebastian Langeveld were with him, and Van Avermaet outsprinted his companions for the win on the Roubaix Velodrome. Van Avermaet's average speed of 45.204 kilometres per hour (28.088 mph) was the fastest in Paris–Roubaix history, breaking the previous record set by Peter Post in 1964.[103][a] The race was also the first monument win for the BMC Racing Team.[104] He ended his spring campaign with a 12th place in the Amstel Gold Race and 11th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège.[105][106]
In May, he won the Tour of Yorkshire after an attack in the final stage to Leeds.[122] He won the opening team time trial with his BMC team of the Tour de Suisse in June, before entering the Tour de France. Van Avermaet moved into the yellow jersey on the third day of the Tour after BMC won the team time trial in Cholet.[123] He finished second, in the yellow jersey, in stage 9 to Roubaix, which included 21.7 km (13.5 mi) of cobbled sectors. Van Avermaet was beaten by John Degenkolb in a three-man sprint after they broke clear at 17 km (11 mi) from the finish.[124] He managed to keep the maillot jaune for another day, after he went in the breakaway and finished fourth in the first mountain stage to Le Grand Bornand.[125] He wore the yellow jersey for eight days and finished 28th in the general classification.[126]
In 2019, BMC changed sponsorship following the death of team owner Andy Rihs. Poland-based shoe retailer CCC became the new title sponsor, leaving Van Avermaet as the prime anchor of the team.[131] He started the season with a stage win and 21st place overall in the Tour of Valencia and 17th overall in the Tour of Oman, but failed to secure another win in his classics campaign.[132] He finished second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad behind Zdeněk Štybar, sixth in Strade Bianche, third in E3 Harelbeke and a disappointing tenth in the Tour of Flanders.[133] On 15 September 2019 Van Avermaet won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal for the second time in his career.[134]
Doping allegations
In April 2015 the Royal Belgian Cycling League requested a two-year ban for Van Avermaet, the disqualification of all his results during the 2012 season and a €262,500 fine following an investigation into suspected anti-doping offences. It was reported in the Belgian media that their accusations focused on allegations of Van Avermaet's use of the corticoid Diprophos, and Vaminolact, a fortified baby food which is banned from being injected.[135][136] On 7 May 2015, it was announced that Van Avermaet was cleared of all allegations.[137]
^"Van Avermaet: This year I feel like it's my turn". Cyclingnews.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017. The Olympic road race champion has won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke and Gent–Wevelgem so far this spring, earning him the nickname of the 'King of Flanders'.