
For the second straight year, Greg Van Avermaet has had to face up to the disappointment of not making it into his team’s Tour de France selection - only on this occasion, with retirement now just months away, it is surely all the harder for the Belgian to handle.
A former Olympic champion and Tour de France stage winner and leader, Van Avermaet, 38, told reporters this week he had hoped for his team to show more sympathy for his predicament.