Even before Greg Van Avermaat (Belgium) finished his 18-year professional road racing career in 2023, he began diversifying his sport for the love of the sport. He had already won a road race gold medal at the 2016 Olympics and a year later won both Paris-Roubaix and Ghent-Wevelgem. How can he reach that pinnacle?

Van Avermaat competed in the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships in 2022, finishing fourth, one second behind Mathieu van der Pol (Netherlands). And this year, he joined the full gravel calendar and also competed in the 70.3 Ironman, where he finished fourth, one second ahead of Mathieu van der Pol (Netherlands).

“I love the sport. I'm lucky to still be in good shape. It takes me four weeks to train for a triathlon. So that's another cool part of it. If you stay busy on the bike, you don't lose so much shape. And it's great to find freedom and good feelings through events like this,” Van Avermaat told Cycling News at a pop-up store for brands like BMC and Pirelli in Leuven on Friday.

“I think it's very special that so many Belgians are starting. But it's not like a real team. It's an individual sport. It's not created by the federation, and on the road you have to pick eight or nine people per team. So I think we have more freedom here."

”Last time, I was still a professional rider, still in big shape. Now it's a little different. I still ride a lot of bikes, but I don't live a professional life anymore.

He has seven top-10 finishes in eight major events, including third at Falling Leaves Lahti, fourth at 3 Rides Gravel, and seventh at the Unbound Gravel 200. This year's UCI Gravel World Championships will be held in his hometown, and he will be looking for a good run.

“I want to do my best. Of course, I have the skill and knowledge, but sometimes my legs don't react the way I want them to. But I think I'm at a good level. And it's not that far from home. And I also thought, 'Why not do it?'

“I think winning something like this would be out of reach. I think if I finish in the top 15 or top 20 on this course, I'll be happy. So we'll see. I'm still enjoying [the race], but the level, of course, is not the same anymore.”

When we talked about how many of the 292 elite riders at the start of Sunday's 182-km race would compete, Van Avermaert wanted to pick his Belgian teammate, but no longer has a chance of starting, one of the hottest riders in the peloton, He chose Dutchman Mathieu van der Pol.

“If I had to name one person, it would probably be Mathieu [van der Pol]. If you look at his level last week, maybe it's not the best course for him, but I think we can expect him to be the winner on Sunday,” Van Avermaet said with a light laugh.

“So I think he has the skill, he has the legs, he has the knowledge (of the equipment). It's good that he's here. It's good for him to be here and it's good for the event.

Van der Pol will be competing for the world championship title on a classic-style gravel course in addition to cyclocross and road. Van Avermaert likes the course and says it could have been more uphill.

“I think it's very Belgian. There are some punchy climbs. There are a lot of buildings and small protected nature areas. There are a lot of corners. So I think it's quite difficult to grade this parkour,” he said. [It's a classic style, like the Tour of Flanders. It's that kind of parcours. If you really want to make it harder, there's a little bit more climbing.

“It's such a gravel road, and the road is not wide. So it makes the race harder. If you're behind, it's hard to catch up to the front like an accordion. I think that makes the race very difficult.”

Other sporting adventures have brought Van Avermaat back to his boyhood roots in swimming and running, and in 2023 he tried triathlon. When a friend asked him to try a Half Ironman this year, Van Avermaat first checked his gravel program to see if the timing was right. He was right.

He competed in the 70.3 Ironman Knokke-Heist with former road pro Jelle Wallays (Cofidis) and Belgian national cycling coach Sven Vanthourenhout. Van Avermaert finished 13th overall and 3rd in the category (M35-39), five places ahead of Wallays, while Vanthourenhout finished 7th in the category (M40-44).

“Of course, there was a race in Belgium and I thought, yes, let's try it. I started cycling when I was 18, so I had a background as a soccer player, a little bit of swimming, a little bit of running. But I did a little bit of swimming, I did a little bit of running, I did a little bit of swimming, I did a little bit of running.

He admitted that he really enjoyed it, not only because it was different from cycling, but also because the expectations were lower than in cycling, where “in gravel you are expected to win, but it is not always so easy.” Van Avermaert qualified for next year's 70.3 Ironman World Championships in Spain.

“But in triathlon, if you can do all three sports, you really get recognized. And I qualified for the World Championships next year. So I plan on competing in another one.”

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