Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet is Racing Unbound Gravel 200: Here’s Why He’s Nervous
With under two weeks until race day, the U.S. gravel scene is all about Lifetime Unbound Gravel. While it’s the second race in the Life Time Grand Prix, the Unbound 200 is also arguably the most well-known gravel race in the world, and top-tier riders outside of the series will be on the start line gunning for a win.
This year, all eyes are on freshly retired road racer Greg Van Avermaet, formerly of the AG2R Citroën Team. The 39-year-old Olympic gold medalist and former Paris-Roubaix winner shared his feelings about the 200-mile course in Wednesday’s press conference, including his nerves around fixing his own flats and what exactly it takes to win a race like Unbound.
“I think you sign in for some races, you make your calendar, and first, you think that it’s going to be easy,” said Van Avermaet when asked about the reason behind putting Unbound on his schedule for his first year in semi-retirement.
“It’s something different. And it’s also something I choose to do. I had [it] in mind for a few years. After professional road racing, I wanted to do some more adventure stuff... I think this kind of event is something that fits in with that.”
But of course, no one would consider Unbound to be an easy race, and the closer it gets, the more Van Avermaet is realizing that. “We’ll see how it goes. I am trying to be at a good level. But I see also it takes a lot of time. I’m training almost 20 hours a week, which is close to my professional cycling life,” said the Belgian. “But I have a lot of things that are going on on the side for the moment. So it makes it quite challenging to be at a good level.”
The distance does unnerve him slightly. Despite being one of the top riders in one-day races like Paris-Roubaix, Unbound is still long. “This kind of distance with this kind of preparation, it’s something that gets me out of my comfort zone,” he says. “I will see how it goes. You have to organize a lot of things alone, and you have to be ready for it.”
“I will do my best, and I will enjoy it as good as possible. I’m looking out looking forward to coming to the U.S. to race.”
Gear seems to be one of the things that has him worried: Tire choice and stress over in-race mechanicals are nerve-wracking when you come from a road background where a mechanical means waiting for a follow car to provide a new bike, not fixing your own flat after running through a half mile of mud. (Van Avermaet is looking for course recon advice and tips, by the way!)
The transition from road cyclist to gravel pro isn’t easy: Yes, a roadie like Van Avermaet has the legs. But he’s also spent his career being part of a team, not figuring out things like building a bike and heading to the start line solo.
“As a road cyclist, you really have a big team behind you: A a lot of mechanics, a soigneur—it’s quite easy,” he admits. “You go to the race, and everything is in order for you to perform. The only thing you have to do is train and be healthy to start. With gravel, you have to be everything yourself. [For example] in the Traka 200, I had a small crash. And you have to look out for yourself; you have to clean your wounds, you have to clean your bike and all this kind of stuff. And I’m not used to it.”
But he won’t be entirely alone on the start line: Off the heels of a win at the brutal Traka 200 in Girona, Spain, is Petr Vakoč—Van Avermaet’s Team Last Dance teammate for Unbound. Van Avermaet was also at the Traka 200—that’s a 200-kilometer race, not a 200 miler—but admits that he missed the lead group, which is a mistake he doesn’t plan to make again. (He finished seventh there, 1:35 behind Vakoč.)
“He’s actually really performing really well,” Van Avermaet says. “But for the race, we don’t have really a game plan. He has been everywhere on the podium. He’s still motivated. He has really good preparation. He really looks forward to the Unbound adventure.”
Don’t expect Vakoč to sacrifice himself for van Avermaet when the going gets tough out there, though. “I think it’s more like a relationship where we can help each other—I have my experience from road cycling, but he has a lot more experience in on the gravel. So I think it’s a good combination with each other,” he adds. “I was a bit sad that I didn’t make it to the first group at the Traka 200. I hope to be up there in Unbound, with a longer distance and a different course.”
In fact, he’s more worried about his former BMC teammate Peter Stetina, who won the Traka 360 race already this season. “I think Peter has better experience of this,” he says. And also on the start line will be Matej Mohorič—who knows a thing or two about winning really really ridiculously long races. He won the 288-kilometer Milano-Sanremo in 2022, aided by a dropper post. So he’s no stranger to off-road style tactics and long days in the saddle.
How do you win Unbound? The secret, Van Avermaet believes, is that it’s all about the legs and the mechanical luck. “If you really need the game plan for 300 kilometers, I think it’s all about the legs and being able to have no problems in the race,” he says. “That’s the one thing I learned already from a lot of different riders. I haven’t had too many problems [racing gravel] yet. Only one flat tire with four or five races down. I think if you can keep your material really in top shape, that’s important.”
Of course, even with the best gear, Unbound can still wreak havoc on your bike, as we saw with last year’s epic mudfest that left derailleurs scattered across the field. But even in a dry year, a poorly timed flat tire can cost you the win. “From the course pictures, it really looks rough, and it scares me a little bit,” he admits. “You have to be careful with your bike. On the road bike, I could handle my bike quite well on the cobblestones, and I was careful not to flat. In a race like Paris-Roubaix, I did it 12 or 15 times, and I only flatted once. But gravel racing, it’s more about luck.”
“I think a good preparation and a good recon could help a lot in making good decisions, and in the race, just be careful about what you’re doing,” he says. “And then, in the end, you also still need to have the legs. You have to have everything to win these kinds of races. And that makes it so hard.”
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