"It’s like Formula 1, very exciting" - Greg Van Avermaet enjoys the on-going hunt for marginal gains in cycling
Cycling
At the peak of the era of marginal gains, Greg Van Avermaet retired from professional cycling at the end of the 2023 season. And so the former Olympic champion, who is now active as gravel racer, missed the new trends such as growing tires and shrinking cranks. Or did he?
"I remember my first Flanders we raced on 21mm tires and then they gave us 23mm tires and we all thought, uff, that’s way too big," Van Avermaet told Velo. "Then we went from 25mm and again we thought, uff, that’s a big tire! Then we went to 28mm and 30mm. It’s quite cool to see how everything develops and evolves."
"There is such a big evolution in bicycles and equipment. Everything can be measured these days," Van Avermaet said. "Before we had our opinion or a feeling about how something might be used. Today everything is calculated and they never stop searching out for new things."
"Some things that were always done in the same way in the past have been proven not to be the fastest anymore," he told Velo. "Now it’s like Formula 1 in racing, it’s exciting to watch."
Cranks
The hot topic of last days are the ultra-narrow cranks that were first used by Tadej Poagacar in his historical 2024 season, and were subsequently picked up by (almost) whole Team Visma | Lease a Bike. For riders who can maintain high cadences of pedalling, these can help save a bit of power on longer efforts. In particular on rolling terrain.
"I never raced on such cranks during my pro career, I raced on the standard 172.5 cranks. Some bigger riders raced on 175," said Van Avermaet. However recently, he gave the new setup a go and has some words of praise too: "I think 150mm is quite small, that seems a bit too much. Shorter cranks do well and I am trying them myself now. I feel quite comfortable with them."
"Depending on your body size, if you have speed and high cadence you can benefit from shorter cranks," he said. "The only thing is if you cannot maintain a high cadence I think it would really slow you down."
"On the TT bike, the shorter crank can make it more comfortable in the position because it opens up the angle," he analyzed. "I was not convinced about that on the road bike until I’ve recently tried them. Now everyone is racing on 170mm or 165mm." And then there are the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard who push it to the extreme with cranks as short (or even shorter) as 150mm.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- This is a really interesting idea, which, if well prepared could even be very successful. Very little money needs to be involved for a first season and any success could lead to rapid interest from sponsors.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
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- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
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