Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) isn’t having the time of his life so far in the 2017 Tour de France. After a great Spring campaign, Van Avermaet hoped to have an equally great run in the Grande Boucle. But so far the 32-year-old Belgian has missed out on the two small chances he's had.
After the finish in Station des Rousses on Saturday, Van Avermaet expressed the hope that the second part of the Tour would provide him with more opportunities to keep him from being bored. In contrast to previous stages, the BMC Racing Team didn’t control the breakaway. Instead, they featured in the breakaway move with Van Avermaet and Nicolas Roche.
“We did a good race, I think. It wasn’t up to us to control the race. That was the job of Team Sky. We did a good stage and I think Richie went well too,” Van Avermaet said.
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During stage 8 from Dole to Station des Rousses in the Jura mountains, Van Avermaet was one of the most active riders in the peloton during the start of the stage. A first big effort with Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) was neutralized.
Still, Van Avermaet was strong enough to join the small peloton that went up the road later in the stage. He survived the natural selection in this group and reached the final climb, category 1 climb Montée de la Combe de Laisia Les Molunes in the front group. From there, the pure climbers were on their terrain and Van Avermaet quickly had to let go of them.
“I spent a lot of energy in the breakaway move with Sylvain Chavanel and Lutsenko," he said. "They caught us on the climb and then I panicked a little because normally they’re not passing me like that. I was in a bit of crisis. I managed to pick it up again and had super sensations during the remainder of the stage.
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