COVID-19’s impact on bike racing has meant many things to many people. For Greg Avermaet, it means an unusual fifth season as the reigning Olympic road race champion.
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Van Avermaet won the 2016 Olympic road race in Rio — on a BMC. After racing 2019 and 2020 on a Giant TCR Advanced SL, the Belgian is back aboard a BMC for 2020.
While this rig isn’t quite as gold-drenched as his 2019 Giant, the flair is still there.
VeloNews photographer James Startt was on site as Van Avermaet and many other WorldTour pros began their seasons at Étoile de Bessèges this week in France. Take a closer look at Van Avermaet’s new bike below.
With his transfer to AG2R, Greg Van Avermaet is now back racing on a BMC Teammachine SLR01, coming off his time last year on a Giant TCR with CCC. Van Avermat won the 2016 Olympic road race aboard a BMC.
Olympic-gold details are more subtle on this bike than on some of Avermaet’s past rigs. AG2R is one of four WorldTour teams on Campy this season.
While Shimano’s power meters have become nearly as ubiquitous in the WorldTour peloton as its groups, there are still a few smaller power-meter specialist brands represented. AG2R is on the German Power2Max this year, with its spider built into the Campagnolo crank.
The Teammachine SLR01 features integrated water bottle cages that are as slick to the eye as they are to the wind.
BMC was an early adopter of the integrated cockpit design, which runs the wires and hoses not only through the bar/stem but cleanly inside the head tube, too.
Sure, you could zip-tie a number plate holder onto a seatpost. But the holder for the reigning Olympic champion’s number 1 plate at Étoile de Bessèges is tidily glued on, thank you very much.