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 highway star had blended emotions after making the lead group solely to puncture and need to chase again on twice.
“I may have been higher,” Van Avermaet instructed Cyclingnews and Biking Weekly as he sat on a patch of grass lined 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 realize that they’re saving a bit bit, particularly the favourites, and also you’re there alone, chasing again. That is annoying. However it’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 the perfect second to ask that, I feel. In the event you ask everyone now, the reply is all the time going to be ‘no’.”
Nevertheless, Van Avermaet appeared happy with his accomplishment of combating again and ending the race with a strong consequence 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 driving distant since you all the time have these slopes. You simply need to go for it.
“I made my journey all the way in which 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 highway, I by no means really stopped any race in my profession, virtually, or I needed to have a crash. So if I’m 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 highway 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 not likely shifting, and particularly when you have a bit little bit of unhealthy luck additionally, you see 120km, then 60km… really, I am not good anymore and I nonetheless need to 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 a flat, really, when the race goes open, then you’ll be able to a minimum of go from group to group,” Van Avermaet mentioned. “And once I got here again, I simply mentioned to myself, ‘Simply dangle on so long as potential’. I bear in mind even considering to do some assaults.
“It is also gravel, so that you’re not likely all in a peloton the place you may have a draft, you’ll be able to have it a bit bit, nevertheless it’s not the identical like on the highway.
“You must watch out for residences, it’s important to watch out for crashes. It is a exhausting race. And naturally, you want good preparation to come back right here to additionally compete, as a result of in any other case it is even much less enjoyable. So it’s important to be actually ready.”
The Belgian veteran was half of a giant contingency of European riders, lots of them present or former highway 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 have to be blissful, and you shouldn’t have any regrets, particularly that is the way in which I attempt to journey. So it is tremendous,” he thought-about about ending 4:47 off the profitable tempo of Australia’s Morton.
“I am tremendous blissful that I may 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 realize, if you’re nonetheless within the race, I actually get pleasure from it. Whenever you’re out of the race, it is horrible. So I am used to being on the entrance, so should you’re not there, it is exhausting. So I am tremendous blissful.”
