BMC’s Van Avermaet hoping for result to close long classics season

WALSHOUTEM, Belgium (VN) – Greg Van Avermaet is ready to close a long classics season Sunday and is looking to deliver a result to BMC Racing. Van Avermaet, 25, will start his first Liège-Bastogne-Liège Sunday.

“I know the parcours very well, but this is the first time that I’ll do this race,” Van Avermaet said. “I don’t know what to expect, but I think it suites me better than Flèche Wallonne. It’s been a long classics season for me, but I will put in all my best to get a good result for the team.”

Van Avermaet has ridden each of the major spring classics this year, other than Paris-Roubaix, and has been the team’s focal point for the Ardennes races after Karsten Kroon went out with a fractured collarbone.

Rik Verbrugghe, a winner of the Flèche Wallonne during his days in the saddle, will direct the team at La Doyenne Sunday and said his riders will be aggressive when the race turns north from Bastogne and heads into the mountains.

“There we need to open the race,” Verbrugghe said. “We’re going to try and make the first break and then we’ll have more cards to play in the final with guys like Mathias Frank, Ivan Santaromita and Mauro Santambrogio.”

BMC Racing Team for Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Mathias Frank (SUI)
Martin Kohler (SUI)
Jeff Louder (USA)
Amaël Moinard (FRA)
Mauro Santambrogio (ITA)
Ivan Santaromita (ITA)
Greg Van Avermaet (BEL)
Simon Zahner (SUI)
Sport Director: Rik Verbrugghe (BEL)