Greg Van Avermaet to support Philippe Gilbert in Team BMC
Greg Van Avermaet is looking ahead for a positive season with Team BMC and the cyclist is happy to end his enduring war of words with his former teammate, Philippe Gilbert.
The two cyclists shared an uneasy co-existence in the previous side, Omega Pharma-Lotto, which is believed to be the main reason why Van switched to Team BMC in 2011.
The cyclist had a fantastic season with the team and helped the side with a number of victories. However, it appears as if the fate has brought the two Belgians together once again.
After spending two years with the Belgian side, Gilbert has decided to continue his professional career with Team BMC and penned a deal for the season ahead.
Philippe had an outstanding season. In fact, he was the top professional cyclist of the previous year.
The Belgian claimed 698 points for himself and secured the first position at the UCI World Tour rankings, 2011.
Greg also had a great season but he was clearly missing some victories to match the likes of his compatriot.
Philippe secured as many as fifteen overall wins in the previous season, including National Road Race Championships, National Time Trial Championships and the Tour of Belgium.
He also grabbed the Ster ZLM Toer, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Amstel Gold Race and La Fleche Wallonne.
The 29-year-old also has four Grand Tour stages under his belt, including one Tour de France, one Giro d’ Italia and two Vuelta a Espana stages to his credit.
Gilbert’s inclusion in the squad means Greg will be given a different role and he might need to work under the leadership of his Belgian teammate.
Greg briefed, “He [Philippe] won all the races that he could win last year and I just tried to improve every year to also reach my goals. It’s kind of an honour that he’s here on the team with me”.
He added “I think he’s a strong rider and I’m going to try to work for him and try to improve myself too and get to the level he’s at right now”.
The two Belgians will now lead the American team in the season ahead and it will be interesting to see how the old teammates help Team BMC during the 2012 classics season.
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