Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Greg Van Avermaet admitted to feeling nervous before he ‘turned expectations into reality’ and became a triathlon world champion in Marbella on Sunday.
The Belgian, who won the road race at the Rio Olympics in 2016 as well as many other of cycling’s biggest events before retiring in 2023, triumphed in the 40-44 age category at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
He covered the 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km half-marathon in a time of four hours, 15 minutes and 56 seconds.
That was nearly five minutes quicker than Germany’s Wolfgang Teuchner in second, with 492 of the world’s best age groupers having qualified for that 40-44 category.
Quicker than the pros
Not surprisingly, it was on the bike where Van Avermaet put the most time into his rivals.
His 2:16:20 split on what was a challenging 90km course with 1,785 metres of climbing was quicker than many of the male professionals, including star American duo Ben Kanute (2:19:03) and Jason West (2:22:10), as well as two-time 70.3 World Champion Gustav Iden (2:20:17).
In the swim, Van Avermaet clocked 31:02, and his half-marathon time was 1:21:31.
A clearly delighted Van Avermaet wrote on his Instagram page: “High expectations turned into reality. A little nervous at the start, but ready for the unknown.
“Especially proud of my swim and run times, proof that all the hard work and good advice paid off. Thanks to everyone for the support, encouragement and trust along the way, it truly makes a difference.”
A first world title
Ironically, Van Avermaet never claimed a world title on the bike.
That’s despite him winning the sport’s biggest and most iconic one-day races, such as Paris-Roubaix and Gent-Wevelgem, as well as two individual stage wins in the Tour de France.
He also wore the yellow jersey for 11 days during the 2016 and 2018 Tours.
After retiring from racing two years ago, Van Avermaet set his sights on other endurance endeavours, including Unbound Gravel, and competed in the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Knokke-Heist, where he came third in his age category to secure his place on the start line for the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
Triathlon GOAT contender Jan Frodeno was quick to congratulate him on his achievement, posting on his Instagram page: “Nice man, real nice👌.”
