Better late than never?
In the spring Classics this year – and for the previous four years – there was one figure who shone more brightly than all the other riders. At least on the start line. He sported gold cuffs, gold details on his shoes and bike and, most ostentatiously, a rather splendid gold helmet.
The rider was Greg Van Avermaet, the Belgian winner of the Olympic road race in Rio in 2016. Van Avermaet is not a flashy character, quite the opposite in fact. Indeed, so humble and down-to-earth is Van Avermaet that if his nickname was ‘Bling’ or ‘Golden Greg’ you would assume it was ironic.
The unspoken truth is that Van Avermaet is not particularly keen on the gold accessorising, especially not in what is now the fifth year of his reign as Olympic champion, but his sponsors insist on it. In 2021, a year after the most recent Olympics should have been held in Japan, his embarrassment at still being made to wear so much gold is becoming acute.
‘It’s not how good a bike rider someone is,’ says coach Matt Brammeier. ‘It’s not about results, it’s about how committed they are’
Not since Robert Charpentier, the Frenchman who won the 1936 Olympic
