'Golden Greg' Van Avermaet: From goalkeeper to world-Class cyclist, but overtaken by new talent

Born on May 17, 1985, Greg Van Avermaet shares his birthday with Matt Ryan, who would go on to become one of the world's top quarterbacks in American football. While Ryan hails from Pennsylvania, Van Avermaet was born in the vicinity of Lokeren in Belgium. Named after the renowned cyclist Greg LeMond, Van Avermaet has cycling in his blood, with his father and grandfather both being passionate and successful amateur cyclists. Initially, cycling wasn't Van Avermaet's first choice—his heart belonged to football. He excelled in the sport, transitioning from a field player to the role of goalkeeper for the first-division team KSK Beveren.

"Football was my first great love," Van Avermaet once told Het Laatste Nieuws. However, soccer is not the only passion of the Belgian, who has a broad taste in sports. He was also a member of a handball club and an athletics club, where he particularly focused on cross country running. As a member of a cycling family, the cycling races were of course never far away for Van Avermaet. In 2003, he made the decisive switch from football to cycling, joining the junior ranks, and advancing to the U23 category the following year. In his first year in the U23 ranks, he immediately won three races. In 2005 he let the victory counter run even higher, with no less than eleven victories in that season.

In his early years as a cyclist, Van Avermaet raced independently, not yet affiliated with any official team. This changed after his breakout year in 2005 when he joined the ranks of Bodysol - Win for Life - Jong Vlaanderen, a Belgian Continental squad featuring the likes of Jelle Vanendert and Kenny De Ketele. Van Avermaet continued his winning streak in 2006, notching up another eleven victories and even snatching wins in the elite men's category, such as at the Kattekoers. His aptitude for the classics became evident, and he was also recognized as a sprinter capable of climbing well. This versatility caught the attention of the big leagues, and in 2007 Van Avermaet signed his first pro contract with the ProTour team Predictor-Lotto, the current Lotto-Dstny.

Van Avermaet's career quickly gained momentum. Right at the start of the season, he claimed a win in the fifth stage of the Tour of Qatar. This victory was soon followed by commendable finishes at Nokere Koerse and the Ronde van het Groene Hart. His team, Predictor-Lotto, had enough confidence in the young cyclist to enter him into prestigious races such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix early on. Although he didn't vie for the lead just yet, his potential was unmistakably signaled. Van Avermaet was on the path to becoming a leading figure in cycling.

And indeed, he lived up to the promise. Van Avermaet frequently made the top ten in elite races. He could tackle hills with ease and had a powerful sprint finish, which he demonstrated by winning Rund um die Hainleite in a breakaway sprint against eleven competitors.

Listing all of the Belgian sports enthusiast's podium finishes and victories would be an exhausting task. At just 22, the rookie already finished third in the E3 Prize, eighth in the prestigious Tour of Flanders, and fourth at the Belgian National Championships. He won a stage at the Tour of Wallonia in 2008 and triumphed in the second stage of the Tour de l'Ain by the year's end.

By the end of that year, the rising superstar appeared fully prepared for his first outing in a Grand Tour. Indeed, the exceptionally skilled Van Avermaet won the ninth stage of the Vuelta a España, beating cyclists like Davide Rebellin and Damiano Cunego, and finished in the top twenty no less than eleven times. He also took home the points classification of the tour, which indirectly led to him receiving the Flandrien Trophy, the accolade for the best Belgian cyclist of the season.

It was now evident: 'D'n Greg' was a prominent name in cycling. However, 2009 and 2010 saw a dip in performance, with only sporadic victories. At the end of 2010, he made the decision to part ways with his team, at that point known as Omega Pharma-Lotto. This move proved to be advantageous, as his tenure with the American WorldTour team BMC brought forth his most significant achievements, which were numerous.

During his initial stint with BMC, Van Avermaet consistently achieved top finishes, ranging from fourth in 'de Ronde' (2012) to third in Gent-Wevelgem (2013), and from a fourth-place finish in Paris-Roubaix, aptly named the 'Hell of the North' (2013) to a second place in the GP de Québec (2012). Van Avermaet consistently earned top rankings. But it was from 2013 that he began to be recognized not just for frequent placings (he was also very close to stage wins in the Tour de France) but for his winning prowess, with victories that were noteworthy both in frequency and prestige.

2015, 2016, and 2017 - when he was still riding his heart out for BMC - were the real golden years for Van Avermaet. During that period, he won two stages of the Tour de France (2015 & 2016), E3 Harelbeke (2017), Paris-Roubaix (2017), Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (2016 & 2017), Gent-Wevelgem (2017), the Tirreno-Adriatico (2016), the Tour of Luxembourg (2017), and the GP de Montréal (2016, and later also in 2019). As the icing on the delicious cake, he phenomenally crowned himself as the Olympic champion at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, earning the nickname 'Golden Greg.' In Brazil, Van Avermaet triumphed in a sprint against Jakub Fuglsang and Rafal Majka.

The beginning of 2018 didn't always go smoothly for Van Avermaet, who was still very eager to claim a victory in the Tour of Flanders. That didn't happen, although he did manage to hold the yellow jersey for eight days during the Tour de France (earning the moniker 'Yellow Greg'). In 2019, his frequent winning gave way to many honorable placements, though the aforementioned triumph in the GP de Montréal was certainly one to relish: Van Avermaet won the sprint of a greatly reduced group of favorites, beating the likes of Diego Ulissi and Bauke Mollema.

His victory in Canada unwittingly marked the beginning of a long drought for Van Avermaet, who at the end of 2019 switched to the AG2R Citroën Team, and in the pandemic years of 2020, 2021, and 2022, forgot what it meant to win. The decline was clearly noticeable in the former star, who last May announced that he would permanently leave pro cycling after 2023.

Van Avermaet wanted to put everything on the line in his final year to win one last time, though few truly expected much from him. However, on May 14th, he celebrated his final year with a victory at Boucles de l’Aulne. The disappointment was immense when the seasoned Van Avermaet learned that he had not been selected for the Tour.

The tragedy of a top cyclist overtaken by new talent, that's how you could describe it. Who else underwent a similar erosion process? Oh yes, Peter Sagan! The three-time world champion, who, symbolically enough, also plans to retire at the end of this year, was often a thorn in Van Avermaet's side, although the reverse was certainly true as well. The Belgian and the Slovak have made each other's lives difficult throughout their careers. Who doesn't remember the sprint between the two heavyweights in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2017, when Van Avermaet pulled off a somewhat unexpected victory. Also, their joint crash (with Oliver Naesen) on the Oude Kwaremont during the 2017 Tour of Flanders is etched in the memory of many cycling enthusiasts.

The most recent Tour de France was not on the horizon for Van Avermaet, who was gearin gup quietly for his farewell race: Paris-Tours, where he was the victor back in 2011. It culminated in a 58th place for Van Avermaet, yet he did not seem to be disheartened. Less than two weeks after his final race, he was already busy with other pursuits. Naturally, they were sports-oriented activities: in Girona, Spain, Van Avermaet participated in a triathlon for the first time and promptly won the event. His former football teammates claim to this day that 'goalkeeper Van Avermaet' had the best fitness of the whole squad. His triathlon victory seems to only reinforce that statement. Thank you, Golden Greg!