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 might have been higher,” Van Avermaet advised 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 you recognize that they’re saving a little bit 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 feel.”
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 feel. In the event you ask everyone now, the reply is at all times going to be ‘no’.”
Nonetheless, Van Avermaet appeared happy with his accomplishment of preventing again and ending the race with a strong end result regardless of the bodily and psychological setback of getting to chase again twice.
“I used to be considering it was nonetheless early within the race, I’ve to make it again. You see them using distant since you at all times have these slopes. You simply must go for it.
“I made my journey all the best way right here, so simply to surrender hope, it isn’t my type of racing, both.
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“In the event you see my outcomes on the street, I by no means truly stopped any race in my profession, nearly, or I needed to have a crash. So if I’m going to the beginning line, I’ll attempt to give it my finest, and that is additionally what I did at this time.”
Unbound Gravel is a unique expertise to even the largest Monuments of biking like Paris-Roubaix – it is longer than any of the trendy street occasions and difficult 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 a little bit 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, corresponding to chasing again when the peloton was in items.
“It is higher that you’ve a flat, truly, when the race goes open, then you may at the least go from group to group,” Van Avermaet stated. “And once I got here again, I simply stated to myself, ‘Simply dangle on so long as attainable’. I keep in mind even considering to do some assaults.
“It is also gravel, so that you’re probably not all in a peloton the place you’ve a draft, you may have it a little bit bit, however it’s not the identical like on the street.
“It’s a must to watch out for studios, you must watch out for crashes. It is a laborious 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 must be actually ready.”
The Belgian veteran was half of a giant contingency of European riders, lots of them present or former street execs, 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 stated, when you can also make the highest 10, try to be pleased, and you should not have any regrets, particularly that is the best way I attempt to experience. So it is high-quality,” he thought-about about ending 4:47 off the successful tempo of Australia’s Morton.
“I am tremendous pleased that I might observe the main group usually because I did not have contemporary legs anymore, however I used to be able to following. And it was enjoyable. You understand, whenever you’re nonetheless within the race, I actually get pleasure from it. Once you’re out of the race, it is horrible. So I am used to being on the entrance, so in the event you’re not there, it is laborious. So I am tremendous pleased.”
