Former Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet made his debut within the Unbound Gravel 200 on Saturday, racing to seventh place behind winner Lachlan Morton (EF Schooling-EasyPost). The retired WorldTour street star had combined emotions after making the lead group solely to puncture and must chase again on twice.
“I may have been higher,” Van Avermaet informed Cyclingnews and Biking Weekly as he sat on a patch of grass coated in mud after ending seventh in his debut at Unbound Gravel 200.
“I had two flats actually early, so it was actually annoying since you see the peloton in entrance of you and that they’re saving slightly bit, particularly the favourites, and also you’re there alone, chasing again. That is annoying. But it surely’s like it’s. That killed my race, I believe.”
After 9 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds of gravel-pounding, full-gas racing throughout the Flint Hills of Kansas, Van Avermaet was requested if he would return subsequent yr. He laughed, saying, “That is not one of the best second to ask that, I believe. Should you ask everyone now, the reply is at all times going to be ‘no’.”
Nevertheless, Van Avermaet appeared pleased with his accomplishment of combating again and ending the race with a stable end result regardless of the bodily and psychological setback of getting to chase again twice.
“I used to be pondering it was nonetheless early within the race, I’ve to make it again. You see them using far-off since you at all times have these slopes. You simply must go for it.
“I made my journey all the way in which right here, so simply to surrender hope, it is not my type of racing, both.
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“Should you see my outcomes on the street, I by no means truly stopped any race in my profession, virtually, or I needed to have a crash. So if I am going to the beginning line, I’ll attempt to give it my greatest, and that is additionally what I did right this moment.”
Unbound Gravel is a special expertise to even the largest Monuments of biking like Paris-Roubaix – it is longer than any of the trendy street occasions and hard to maintain the motivation up.
“It is a lengthy race and 9 hours on the bike. It is actually one thing that performs within the head. You see the kilometres probably not transferring, and particularly you probably have slightly little bit of unhealthy luck additionally, you see 120km, then 60km… truly, I am not good anymore and I nonetheless must go to the end. In order that’s mentally fairly a tough race.”
However there have been additionally some similarities, reminiscent of chasing again when the peloton was in items.
“It is higher that you’ve got a flat, truly, when the race goes open, then you may not less than go from group to group,” Van Avermaet mentioned. “And once I got here again, I simply mentioned to myself, ‘Simply grasp on so long as attainable’. I bear in mind even pondering to do some assaults.
“It is also gravel, so that you’re probably not all in a peloton the place you have got a draft, you may have it slightly bit, but it surely’s not the identical like on the street.
“It’s important to watch out for residences, you need to watch out for crashes. It is a exhausting race. And naturally, you want good preparation to return right here to additionally compete, as a result of in any other case it is even much less enjoyable. So you need to be actually ready.”
The Belgian veteran was half of a giant contingency of European riders, lots of them present or former street professionals, who made the journey to Kansas for Unbound Gravel. Six Europeans completed within the high 10, Tobias Kongstad of Denmark, Piotr Havik of the Netherlands, Mattia De Marchi of Italy and Simen Nordahl Svendsen of Norway going third to sixth forward of Van Avermaet, and Austria’s Sebastian Schönberger in eighth. It resembled an Olympic Video games meeting of athletes for the US race.
“As I mentioned, when you may make the highest 10, you need to be completely happy, and you shouldn’t have any regrets, particularly that is the way in which I attempt to journey. So it is fantastic,” he thought of about ending 4:47 off the profitable tempo of Australia’s Morton.
“I am tremendous completely happy that I may comply with the main group usually because I did not have recent legs anymore, however I used to be able to following. And it was enjoyable. You already know, whenever you’re nonetheless within the race, I actually get pleasure from it. While you’re out of the race, it is horrible. So I am used to being on the entrance, so if you happen to’re not there, it is exhausting. So I am tremendous completely happy.”
