Even before closing out his 18-year professional road career in 2023, Greg van Avermaet (Belgium) began to diversity his athletic pursuits, for his love of sports. He had already distinguished himself at the 2016 Olympic Games with the gold medal in the road race and a year later he captured wins at both Paris-Roubaix and Gent-Wevelgem. How do you top that?
Van Avermaet began to vary his programme in 2022 by competing in the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships and finished fourth, one second off the podium behind Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands). Then he took up a full gravel calendar this year and mixed in a 70.3 Ironman, which now has him qualified for the 70.3 Ironman World Championships in 2025.
