Rio's Golden Boy, Greg van Avermaet

Not long after he took the Olympic Road Race title in Rio I spoke to Greg van Avermaet about the race. Here’s an extract from our conversation.

ST; The climbing at the Olympics may have seemed a little over the limit for you, yet after your Tour performance you became a real odd’s on favourite, and played your cards to perfection, can you talk us through it?

GVA; The biggest goal of the team is always the Tour de France, but I’m a one day specialist and so I knew I could also be good in Rio. I said to the coach that I wanted to go and see how it was.

As I’m climbing pretty well after the Tour de France, maybe it could be good – but, no matter what; whether I was 20th or 25th I just wanted to go to the Olympics and give it my all.

When I saw the course I said to the director that it was really going to be on the limit for me, and that was if I was on a good day, and that the race strategies would have to be perfect, or it would be impossible to win

The last break went just a little bit earlier than I thought, and they tried to take some advantage. 

They only had 30-40 seconds, and also the climbers didn’t really have the big punch to go any more.

I still felt I could do it, as there was still 12km to go after the descent. In the end they took some risks on the descent and crashed.

Majka was still out there, and we were working together well behind him. At that point I could have been happy with silver or bronze. The group tried to bring him back but couldn’t, so I just decided to save myself and make one attack to try and bring him back, which is what happened with Fuglsang.

ST; That final descent was treacherous, what was your thinking during those decisive moments?

GVA; I also tried to go on the climb, I was pushing and riding hard with my group as they were still riding and we could see them just a few corners ahead. 

Okay, they were 3 guys, and it would be hard to pull them back as they were all happy with medals and riding together, but I knew there were still 10-12k’s after the descent, so wanted to keep it close enough for a chance. 

I was the fastest (sprinter) out there so just kept thinking “keep them close”  - there was still time.

I followed Fuglsang down, he did some great lines and we didn’t take risks, which was how we managed to stay upright.

ST; It looked as though Majka had it in the bag?

GVA; The team coach came next to me in the car and was telling me “go for silver, go for silver” - but I was still thinking of gold. 

I knew that with a small group I could go full gas on the flat, and with 2-3km to go we were getting closer and closer. Then when we caught Majka I knew that I had to finish it off, but you still have to concentrate, as the race isn’t won yet.

ST; Has winning the Olympic gold changed things for you as a rider, and at home?

GVA; The Olympics has helped my confidence. I’m that kind of rider who always has to prove himself to people. 

They called me a good rider, but one who was never winning something big, a bit stupid even.  But I always said to myself that I was a rider who could win something big – maybe not 10-20 races a year, but I can be a team leader. It’s so nice when you can show it and win. If you say it maybe ten times and don’t win you look a bit stupid, and finally now they see what I can do, and I’m so happy with it.

Sure, I was already popular in Belgium, because we have so many cycling fans. Now it’s much bigger, I have to keep stopping to take pictures and don’t have much time for rest any more. Of course it’s nice to have people at home to support you, it’s a great feeling