PARIS (AP) — Greg Van Avermaet, the 2016 Olympics road race champion, said Wednesday this will be the final season of his cycling career.
Van Avermaet, who turns 38 this month, will not stay on for the 2024 Paris Olympics, saying in a statement: “Sadly this adventure will come to an end at the end of this season.”
The Belgian racer won Olympic gold on the roads of Rio de Janeiro weeks after wearing the yellow jersey for a few days at the 2016 Tour de France. He also led the 2018 Tour for one week.
Van Avermaet also was a specialist in the one-day classics and won on the Paris-Roubaix cobbles in 2017. The Tour of Flanders title eluded him despite finishing on the podium four times.
“I gave my best every day, just so I wouldn’t regret anything,” he said.
Van Avermaet’s team , AG2R Citroën, said the last race on his schedule was not yet decided though he should start in the Critérium du Dauphiné or Tour de Suisse in June.
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