Van Avermaet downplays prospects of repeating Rio success at Innsbruck Worlds
17 August 2018 06:22
All season long, it seems, Greg Van Avermaet is always up there. The Belgian may not have landed a Classic victory in 2018, but amid all the questions as to whether Gouden Greg's imperial phase had passed, his sheer consistency throughout the Spring was somewhat overlooked, as he knitted together top-five finishes at the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and E3 Harelbeke. There was precious little respite thereafter, save for a couple of weeks of rest after overall victory at May's Tour de Yorkshire. At the Tour de France in July, Van Avermaet spent more than a week in the maillot jaune and came within inches of a stage win in Roubaix. The two weekends after La Grande Boucle saw him take 4th at the Clasica San Sebastian and then ride the European Championships in Glasgow. That same night, he caught a plane to the Netherlands to report for duty for the BinckBank Tour. It has been, by any measure, a most exacting schedule.ADVERTISEMENT "I tried to recover as good as possible in the days up to now. I did an OK time trial on Tuesday, I think, and that was the hardest stage because it was only two days after the European Championships," Van Avermaet told Cyclingnews in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw on Friday. "I hope to do a good final weekend here, that's the thing. Hopefully, I can move up on GC and maybe win a stage. I think the parcours is not really super good for me, but I'll try as best as possible." Van Avermaet enters the final two days of the BinckBank Tour in 24th place, some 58 seconds down on overall leader Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida). A repeat of his podium finish of 2015 seems unlikely, but Sunday's final stage over the Muur and Bosberg is tailored perfectly to his talents. "The last day is maybe the hardest one so I'll try to have a good day there," Van Avermaet said. Worlds
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