Van Avermaet makes van der Poel suffer during run: "Thanks for waiting"

Van Avermaet is now 40 years old and has been out of professional cycling for more than 2 years. However, the former winner of Paris-Roubaix is still active: he continued cycling, especially on gravel. For example, he participated in the world championship two weeks ago, though he did not enjoy it much, partly because of the hectic nature of the event.

But cycling is not the only thing the Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion is involved in. In the past four weeks, he has recorded no fewer than 32(!) Strava activities, and not all of them were on his b

Van der Poel is coming off a very quiet period. After his last road race (the Renewi Tour, ed.), he went to the Mountain Bike World Championships, then took a break and decided not to compete in the Gravel World Championships or the European Cycling Championships. A vacation was much needed, and now the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has to resume training.

It is therefore not surprising that the hyperactive Van Avermaet is completely outrunning him. The pair set out on Wednesday for a 13-kilometer running training session. It took them almost exactly an hour, but the Dutchman had a hard time keeping up with the Belgian, as evidenced by the Strava caption: “Keeping Mathieu at a distance,” Van Avermaet jokes.

Van der Poel responded to this under the post: ‘“Thank you for waiting.”’ Along the beaches of the coastal town of Jávea, Van der Poel took another step towards winter, after already completing several running sessions and cycling tours in Spain. It is not yet clear when we will see him back in the field.