Awaits counter proposal from Omega Pharma
At the beginning of May, Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Greg Van Avermaet admitted frustration over his early season lack of results and that he was talking with different teams about his options for 2011 and beyond.
Fast forward a month and two more mediocre results to add to his already mediocre 2010, and now Van Avermaet has a concrete offer from BMC in his pocket.
The nearly 25-year-old Belgian talent, has had a disappointing opening five months. An 8th place at the Brabantse Pijl has been his best result thus far. 28th at the 4 Days Of Dunkerque and 29th at the Tour of Belgium in May haven’t helped things either.
For Van Avermaet the season is still young and his career still younger. While his results have left nothing to remember, they haven’t been terrible either. Even with the slow start to the season, the talent and possibilities of Greg Van Avermaet are indisputable.
Van Avermaet is not ignorant of his potential and realizes the likely need to look elsewhere for an environment that will push him forward and up to the next step to the sprinting elite.
“This is my fourth season with the team, but I feel like I’m making no progress. Perhaps some new air will help me relaunch my careeer.”
With that said, Van Avermaet still feels an allegiance to the team that gave him his start, and at the bare minimum, he wishes to play the transfer game with respect.
“The team has always supported me and given me a nice contract. If I leave, I want to leave on good terms.”
The Vuelta stage winner does want to get an idea about his future though and hopes to find out more during June’s Tour de Suisse.
“I want to slowly figure out where I stand. I informed the team of the offer and have been waiting a few weeks for a counter proposal. I hope for everything to be clarified at the Tour de Suisse.”
It’s hard not to hope that Van Avermaet makes the move to a new team in 2011. A team like Omega Pharma is not renowned for its abilities to develop talent. In a climate punctuated by teams such as BMC, Garmin, and HTC-Columbia that are famous for their forward thinking and focus on development, it would appear Van Avermaet has everything to gain by searching out fresh air for 2011.
BMC would gain an almost big name sprinter at a bargain price in Van Avermaet. BMC has a number of sprinting hopefuls, but none are at the level to contend with the sport’s best. America’s John Murphy has shown sparks of sprinting prowess, but his development into a leading sprinter is still a few years off.
Van Avermaet, however, has not only hinted at the possibilities both as a sprinter and a Classics racer, but come good on them as well. A stage win and the points jersey at the 2008 Vuelta to go along with numerous top 10 finishes in the Spring Classics leaves little to the imagination in terms of what BMC would hope to gain from Van Avermaet’s presence.
Don’t expect Omega Pharma to shed any tears at the possibility of losing Van Avermaet. The team has made no secret that it is interested in HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel. On the developmental side, the team still has former Belgian champion, Jurgen Roelandts (24) in its ranks. Van Avermaet would certainly be a loss to the team, but the arrival of Andre Greipel and supposed ascension of Roelandts would more than make up for that. Greipel’s presence alone would guarantee a wheelbarrow full of wins in the early season races.
A solid sprinting leader would allow some easy breathing by the team as Philippe Gilbert prepares quietly for his bread basket month of April, where it is hoped that Gilbert can add to his Amstel Gold win with either a win at the Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, another Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, or preferrably every single one of them.