At 37, a small dose of realism about taking on your younger rivals is no bad thing and so Paris-Roubaix winner Greg Van Avermaet has reshuffled his goals and priorities for 2023.
Rather than try to build steadily towards the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, Van Avermaet has decided to target Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on February 25. And afterwards, che sera, sera.
Van Avermaet is a double winner of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and was third last year. That result was one of the highlights of a difficult 2022 season for the former Olympic champion and AG2R Citroën team leader.
Van Avermaet has archived 2022 and after a solid winter of training is happy to back at the Tour of Oman, one of his favourite ‘warm-up’ races for the Classics.
“The team was not here last year so I had no option, but I’ve been here 10 times, I think,” Van Avermaet, who won a stage of Oman and led overall for two days in 2018, told Cyclingnews before stage 2.
“It’s got a lot of hard finals, which is good, and the weather is good - not too hot, not too cold. There’s almost no jet lag, it’s much more relaxing than other ones in Europe and well-organised and I always find I do well in the Classics after this.”
When Van Avermaet returns to Europe he will be back in the thick of the action almost immediately at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Belgian Opening Weekend, which marks the end of the ‘early-season’ and the start of the spring Classics.
“Getting a good result there is always nice because it gives you a bit of confidence, but it’s also nice to get some results in the pocket beforehand,” Van Avermaet points out.
“I’ve performed there well in the past, plus it gets a lot of media attention as the first big race of the year.”
Rather than dreaming of a repeat of his epic 2017 season where he dominated the cobbled Classics, Van Avermaet is taking aim at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
““That suits me really well, too, because it’s better for me at this point in my career to do a bit more in those races. Afterwards at Flanders and Roubaix, the stronger guys are coming in,” he conceded.
Van Avermaet is in a contract year and turns 38 on May 17 after his performances in the Classics and so his potential for the final part of his career will be evident.
Van Avermaet has no plans of retirement yet and wants to continue for two or three more seasons. Contract negotiations with teams will play out in the summer. At the moment he’s looking at the short-to-mid term and is keen to take advantage of a solid winter of training.
“I did a lot of training in Spain, that’s for sure, the normal preparation. After the first team camp there I stayed there with the family over Christmas and New Year, then it was back to camp again in January, onto Bessèges and now here.”
“I had a little bit of bronchitis after the camp, but now I’m coming back into form. Hopefully I’ll stay healthy and I’ll see how it goes.”
The next two months will indicate van Avermaet road ahead, for 2023 and beyond.
“In general the Classics are the most important period of the year for me, and I still want to do well there,” he said.
“Normally I’ll be at the Tour, it’s on the schedule, although last year I was too,” - although he was finally not selected - “but you never know until the last moment.”
