Greg van Avermaet has an almost unrivalled amount of experience at the top level of cycling and he's now been using some of that vast knowledge to try and give some advice to his young compatriot, Remco Evenepoel.
37-years-old now the former Olympic champion admitted he was pleasantly surprised by Evenepoel's rapid rise to superstardom after victories at the Vuelta a Espana and in the World Championship Road Race in Wollongong. "“To be honest, I never thought we’d see another guy like this, but when we see him winning Liège and San Sebastián, it takes kind of a big head to do this,” Van Avermaet said. “It’s impressive, but a grand tour is something different. In a grand tour, you have to be really careful with your efforts and you have to be good in the third week because then the first two weeks don’t count. I think he managed it quite well.”
He did however send a word of warning to his younger compatriot, “My advice would be to stay calm and keep your feet on the ground, but it’s not so easy sometimes because you get recognized everywhere.” van Avermaet said, “I had the luck, if you can call it that, that I won the Olympics when I was 32, so my career was already stable and it was growing slowly.”
Having seen and done it all over his 15-year pro career, van Avermaet isn't done yet. He still harbours hopes of returning to the winners' circle despite health issues and poor form in recent years. “The last year and a half was not so easy." The Belgian lamented. "I am there with the best guys, but to get away from them it’s a bit harder. I keep working and I just hope to have some good luck in the final and to win a race again."
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