Greg Van Avermaat believes a new team, kit changes, and a radical shift away from the English-speaking culture of the CCC will help refresh his career after joining AG2R Citroen on a three-year contract.

Once again, the 35-year-old, whose main goals for the season are the Classics, Tour de France, Olympics, and World Championships, is fully recovered from the crash and serious injury that ended his season in October with Liege-Bastogne-Liege, breaking his ribs and spine.

"I'm feeling very good right now. The crash in Liège was huge and it took me a long time to recover. I tried to go to Flanders, but I wasn't at 100%, so in the end I think it was a good decision not to go. I felt injured and in pain until eight weeks after the fall. I can train as much as possible and I'm not in pain.

The French team has undergone a major shakeup in recent months, changing its emphasis from a stage race team that handles classics to a full-fledged one-day team with potential in multi-day events. Romain Bardet and his group of climbers have left, and Van Avermaat and 10 other riders have joined the team. Classic leader Oliver Naessen was joined by Van Avermaat, Bob Jungels, Gijs Van Hocke, and Michal Scheer to form a strong core.

"I think we have a really good team. This year we replaced 11 players in AG2R. That is a big change, but I have a strong classic team next to me and I already had that. I think Scherr, van Hoekke, and I, along with the other players who have joined, can adjust to be an even stronger team," Van Avermaat said. With this group, we can compete with other strong teams. With this group, we can compete with the other strong teams." If we are at the highest level, we will do well in the Classic, which is the team's main goal.

With Van Avermaert's 36th birthday not too far away, some team managers may have felt that the Olympic champion was past his best. However, the Belgian's arrival in the team was due to the dissolution of the CCC due to financial pressures and AG2R's confidence in him during the negotiations; AG2R, despite not winning a race in 2021, has a top 10, including a top 5 finish at the Tour de France He saw a highly competitive and consistent rider with a string of finishes.

"The most important point is that from the first time I spoke with Vincent Lavenu about how they saw my future and how they saw theirs, they had confidence in me," Van Avermaat said.

"They had confidence in me, even though I have to say I'm not the youngest anymore. They wanted to push me more, they still believed in me, they still believed I could win big. That was the most important thing for me."

Nevertheless, 2021 represents a fundamental change for van Avermaat. Next year will be his first season away from Continuum Sports, the management company of the CCC team and BMC Racing. Van Avermaat moved to Continuum Sports in 2011 and enjoyed the best years of his career, and the move to AG2R will provide new excitement and a new environment, he says.

"It's kind of strange. I remember the first time I went to Como (for the partnership with BMC), I believe, all the meetings were in English. My French is not very good, but I do my best." [19] [20] "I had a great time with Jim and at the end of the year, when we still could, we had dinner together and finished the conversation. He is super motivated to open a new book and write some good pages in it. At my age, as they say now, it can be good to get out of your comfort zone and see something new."

Another change is that until Matteo Trentin joined CCC earlier this year, Van Avermaat was the only classic leader on the team he had raced with for several years. That will change with Lavenu's team, and although the pressure and expectations will be higher, Van Avermaert believes that the collective strength within the team will help him compete for wins in the classics and the Tour.

"I think we have to work well together. That is the most important point. We have a strong generation growing up, and it's not easy to win races. If we work together, we can beat a lot of our rivals. That's the only solution to winning races."

"Normally, we plan on rolling through the classics, with the Tour de France, which is important for the team, and the Olympics and the World Championships. It will be a challenging year, but we'll see how it goes. The World Championships in Belgium will be huge for us. The course in Tokyo is difficult, but so was Rio. Tokyo feels the same. It's a very difficult course, but after the Tour I always have good legs for mountainous and hilly courses.

Team changes are not the only adjustments: the calendar has changed due to the 2020 closure, which means that most riders will be racing from late October to early November. Van Avermaat had a traditional off-season, with the crash putting a damper on his season, but he does not believe the calendar delay will affect his preparation for next season's spring classics or his racing.

"It's structured so that after the Classics we have the Tour de France, the Olympics, and the World Championships. Everyone is used to this and I don't think this year will affect our results. Wout Van Aert was at a high level and Alaphilippe was there. Athletes with great talent can always adjust themselves in the right way and perform at a high level."