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Greg van Avermaet

Van Avermaet has proven himself to be a solid rider yet again with a very decent Spring campaign but I just don't see BMC as the best team for him at the moment as there's always a rider ahead of him in the pecking order (Gilbert, Hushovd, Phinney, Ballan, Evans).

If you look back over the last 2 or 3 seasons, he's shown himself far more consistently than any of BMC's other classics specialists yet hasn't received that much team support. He's still got quite a few good years ahead of him, maybe he should be looking for a new squad? If Sky or Garmin gave him full leadership at his choice of classics I think he could finally land a big one.

Thoughts?
 
Jul 29, 2012
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He left Lotto because of the presence of Gilbert.

Poor guy :D

He deserves to win a monument but he's going to have to be a bit smarter or become a bit better then
 
Riding for BMC, I don't think he's too poor!

He can't really complain with the number of opportunities he has had and to his credit doesn't. He will always go out and do a job for you, I think that's why Rihs was quick to extend his deal last year.

He gets a lot of flak for not winning, he can't as he doesn't have a lethal ability. But he's perhaps the best after the real winners Sagan/Boonen/Cancellara/Gilbert/Rodriguez.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Greg is always up there, discussed this at the last coffee stop post group ride and consensus was he needs to be the outright leader for select races to get that big win down. Sure he's on a big team but I doubt he's ever the one and only leader at a race. He seems to be the type of rider who would be best in such a old fashioned setup where its all for him.
 
Miburo said:
He left Lotto because of the presence of Gilbert.

Poor guy :D

He deserves to win a monument but he's going to have to be a bit smarter or become a bit better then
I remember last year's RvV where Greg won the bunch sprint for 4th quite handily and woould like to know what he could have done if Ballan wasn't already up the road. He was also looking good at Roubaix this year and left me wondering what could have been if Phinney didn't burn himself out in the early break.

I think his real problem is that sometimes he isn't selfish enough? Many lesser riders have had a lot more wins than GvA
 
The thing with GVA is he's not a true winner. He racks lots of good placements, scores lots of points, he is definitely useful for a team. Yet there's almost always someone better than him.

Maybe he could have more support in a smaller team like, say, Vacansoleil, yet he would probably need to lower his wage...Anyway I think he did almost as he pleased during this spring, and as always lots of top 10, zero wins.
 
Hes had more support than you might think, but yeah he could easily become unhappy like he did at lotto under gilbert, difference this time is BMC pay him more than enough to want to stay. He is great one day racer.

I have nicknamed him greg "the legs"
 
he's just off the cusp, as in at that 2nd tier behind the top dogs.
I feel he'll win at some stage, but it'll be a vansummeren type deal in him jagging it. He's got a good enough level to give himself a better than average "be in the right place at the right time" to pull off this type of win...
 
Mar 15, 2013
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The biggest problem is that he does too much work on the wrong moments. And it doesn't matter where or when, there seems to be always at least one guy that is better, faster at the finish. How can he lose that 3rd place-sprint in Roubaix against Terpstra? Greg is a guy that can top-10 a bunch sprint
 
Ferminal said:
Riding for BMC, I don't think he's too poor!

He can't really complain with the number of opportunities he has had and to his credit doesn't. He will always go out and do a job for you, I think that's why Rihs was quick to extend his deal last year.

He gets a lot of flak for not winning, he can't as he doesn't have a lethal ability. But he's perhaps the best after the real winners Sagan/Boonen/Cancellara/Gilbert/Rodriguez.

Yes just behind the winners. Good support material for the winners. But like Ciolek/Vansummeren/Nuyens can win if he plays it tactically. Needs a good team and a tactically astute DS. But perhaps his pay at BMC is good enough to prevent him from going to other teams. Or maybe not ambitious enough.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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I agree with most, he's just behind the best one day riders. I again agree that he can't win going head to head with them, but late attacks in the last 20km in a race? like moser and sagan strade bianche, leaving the team leader to mark moves and take a sprint.
 
One of the most versatile classics riders with the ability to top ten in at least 4 monuments. He's the Leukemens of the younger generation, but at least he won Paris Tour. He could easily win the Canadian races and a race like GP Quest.
Solid 2nd option for The Belgian NT too.
Agree he was a bit unfortunate that all the stars came to BMC, but I doubt he would have won the big ones even if he was team leader. He's a serial top 10 guy.
 

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