page_title: Greg Van Avermaet
section_title: 2016: Olympic champion
hierarchical_section_title: Greg Van Avermaet / Career / 2016: Olympic champion
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Reportage réalisé le samedi 27 février à l'occasion du départ et de l'arrivée du Circuit Het Nieuwsblad 2016 et de l'arrivée du Circuit Het Nieuwsblad féminin 2016 à Gand, Belgique. Nederlands: Vertrek en aankomst, zaterdag 27 februari, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2016, Gent, België. Depicted people: Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Tiesj Benoot Depicted team: Tinkoff, BMC Racing, Lotto-Soudal
context_page_description: Greg Van Avermaet is a Belgian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam CCC Team. Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling, Van Avermaet is a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also won stages and the general classification in stage races, particularly when run on a hilly terrain, such as the 2016 Tirreno–Adriatico, and the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire. His strong sprint finish enables him to win sprints of small lead groups, but he has also won races after solo breakaways.
  He won the men's individual road race event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and has won other one-day races such as Paris–Roubaix, Gent–Wevelgem and E3 Harelbeke in 2017, the 2016 GP de Montréal and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2016 and 2017. In the Grand Tours, Van Avermaet has taken two individual stage wins in the Tour de France, and worn the Yellow Jersey for eleven days during the 2016 and 2018 Tours and won the points classification in the Vuelta a España, with one stage win in the Vuelta a España. Van Avermaet was also the overall winner of the 2017 UCI World Tour.
  For the 2021 season, Van Avermaet will join the AG2R Citroën Team on a three-year contract.
context_section_description: In 2016 he opened the season with numerous top-5 placings in the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman. In late February, he won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, after beating Peter Sagan in a five-man sprint in Ghent. He finished sixth in Strade Bianche, before entering Tirreno–Adriatico, where he was on the winning team of the opening team time trial. After the cancellation of Tirreno's queen stage, he won the sixth stage in a sprint with Sagan, and successfully defended his lead in the final time trial, by one second over Sagan – his first overall win in a World Tour stage race. The victory pushed Van Avermaet to the top of the UCI World Ranking for one week. Following Tirreno–Adriatico, he finished fifth in Milan–San Remo but crashed and broke his collarbone in the Tour of Flanders.
  After his return from injury in May, he competed in the Tour of California and the Critérium du Dauphiné, before placing third in the Belgian National Road Race Championships behind Philippe Gilbert and Tim Wellens. In July he entered the Tour de France: he won stage 5 to Le Lioran, his second Tour de France stage win, after a long breakaway and having completed the final 17 kilometres (11 miles) solo. He also moved into the yellow jersey, which he held for three days, and finished 44th overall. Six days after the Tour de France, he finished fifth in the Clásica de San Sebastián in Spain.
  On 6 August 2016, Van Avermaet won the men's individual road race at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He initially joined a six-man breakaway on the first of three passes of the 25.7-kilometre (16.0 mi) Vista Chinesa Circuit loop, and managed to stay in contact with several climbing specialists on the next ascents. Van Avermaet was distanced by Vincenzo Nibali, Sergio Henao and Rafał Majka on the final climb, but after Nibali and Henao crashed out of the race on the final descent, Van Avermaet tandemed with Jakob Fuglsang to catch Majka on the run-in to the finish. Van Avermaet won the three-man sprint on Copacabana Beach before Fuglsang and Majka to claim the Olympic gold medal.
  Later in the season he finished second in the Grand Prix de Québec behind Peter Sagan; he won the Grand Prix de Montréal ahead of Sagan; ended fourth overall in the Eneco Tour; as well as fourth in Binche–Chimay–Binche. He ended the season with a 10th place at the World Road Race Championships in Qatar.
caption: Van Avermaet on the podium of 2016 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with his daughter Fleur, Peter Sagan (left) and Tiesj Benoot (right).
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