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For the second straight yr, Greg Van Avermaet has needed to resist the frustration of not making it into his crew’s Tour de France choice – solely on this event, with retirement now just months away, it’s certainly all of the more durable for the Belgian to deal with.
A former Olympic champion and Tour de France stage winner and leader, Van Avermaet, 38, informed reporters this week he had hoped for his crew to indicate extra sympathy for his predicament.
With a purpose of being a crew employee, he stated, and what he noticed pretty much as good type in latest races, he thought he might need a shot at choice for what would have been his tenth and final Tour.
However that didn’t show to be the case. Moreover, Van Avermaet already endured the identical scenario in 2022, when he was not chosen for the Tour for the primary time since 2013 by AG2R regardless of being in what he felt was good race situation.
“It is regular that I am upset, in any other case, I would not be bold anymore,” Sporza reported Van Avermaet as saying. ”Particularly as a result of I knew it might be my final Tour. Then you definately hope for some sympathy from the crew.”
Van Avermaet added he was motivated to trip the Tour once more. “It is at all times a troublesome race, however it’s nonetheless the most important bike race. So that you wish to be a part of it.
“A stage win might need been tough for me, however I might have been in a position to be a crew employee and get in breaks.
“My stage was good, I had some good ends in the Classics, and that’s the purpose whenever you assume you’ll make it into the lineup.”
A winner for the primary time in practically 4 years this Might within the Boucles de l’Aulne/Chateaulin one-day race, Van Avermaet recognised that it had not been a simple resolution for AG2R. However when it got here to his view of the rationale behind that call, he pulled just a few punches.
“I do know it isn’t a simple resolution for them. I had hoped to take part within the Tour based mostly on my palmares and my expertise. In different groups, riders have been chosen due to these components, however apparently, they did not matter to my crew,” he stated.
“I now must swallow this bitter capsule and hope for an excellent autumn.”
One final Vuelta unlikely
Trying forward at alternate options to the Tour de France, Van Avermaet stated he was not overly passionate about using the Vuelta a Espana, the place again in 2008 he took a breakthrough first stage win and the factors jersey – the latter now set to be his solely ultimate classification victory in a Grand Tour.
“I’ll have extra possibilities to get good ends in smaller stage races and one-day races, resembling in Quebec and Montréal,” he defined.
“It is onerous, however I’ve to have the ability to course of this. Let’s hope that inside every week I can put my ideas absolutely again on racing once more.”
It doubtless did not assist issues for Van Avermaet that again in June 2022, he already lived by way of the identical non-selection situation for the Tour de France, telling reporters on the time in a specifically organised press convention, “it was a giant disappointment as a result of I used to be not likely anticipating it.”
“They by no means stated I used to be one hundred pc positive for the Tour however I had the sensation I used to be not likely replaceable or not within the crew, so it was a shock.”
Final June Van Avermaet expressed his hopes that he can be chosen for the 2023 Tour, saying “I do know I had some nice moments there and I understand how particular it’s to be there, so I hope to be again and I’ll have the ability to cease on an excellent be aware.”
Nonetheless, as he found this week, when it comes to the Tour de France at the very least, that was not going to be the case.
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