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Spanish newspaper calls Greg Van Avermaet “the Djokovic of cycling” after ruling on booster shot

ALSO READ. Hi Novak Djokovic? Top tennis player Victoria Azarenka pleads for mandatory vaccination after “circus”: “No syringe is not playing”

The three judges of the Australian Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Sunday that the unvaccinated Djokovic’s visa would remain revoked. This is how a soap opera that kept the entire tennis world under its spell for almost two weeks came to an end.

The Serbian number one in the world arrived in Melbourne on January 5 and saw his visa initially refused. He then spent several days in a quarantine hotel, after which a judge ordered his immediate release on January 10. The Australian Immigration Minister was able to ‘overrule’ that decision and did so “on the basis of the public interest”.

© AP

“Not so keen on third shot”

On January 12, in full ‘Djokovic storm’, it was media day at AG2R – Citroën. Greg Van Avermaet then said that he has not yet had a booster shot and does not intend to. The East Fleming wants to wait until after the classics.

“It didn’t go the way I wanted, especially in the second half of the season. I blame it on my vaccination,” said Van Avermaet. “Since then I have not raced at a level anymore. You really have to time that and I did it just before the Dauphiné, after a hard training period and just before a hard race. That was not a good idea. I have not cycled at a level after that. Normally I’m always good for a place in the top ten or participate in the finals, now I even had a hard time in the grupetto in the Tour. I wanted to stop myself, but the team wanted me to continue, including for our classification man Ben O’Connor and I did, but then you wear your body further. My blood values ​​were not at the same level as tests in the autumn showed. My body was fighting against something. So I’m not so keen on that third shot right now. I’ll have him put after the classics, I think that’s the best option.”

And that last statement has now caused some controversy. The Spanish El Espanol, an online newspaper with more than half a million followers on social media, even calls Van Avermaet the “Novak Djokovic of cycling”.

© The Spanish

“Unlike Djokovic, the Belgian cyclist has received the first doses of the corona vaccine. However, now he has changed his mind and does not want to get the booster vaccine yet.” “Van Avermaet wants to postpone that until after the first half of the season, where his main goals are. The Olympic champion of Rio de Janeiro does not want the potential side effects of the vaccine to affect his performance.”

“Due to this decision by Van Avermaet, he is described in some sectors as the ‘Novak Djokovic of cycling’. Despite the fact that the major races on the calendar have not yet communicated anything about whether it will be mandatory to present a vaccination certificate in order to start,” the Spanish medium writes to then quote the above quotes from our compatriot. to fetch.”

Remarkable: Van Avermaet, who got corona in November, recently said the following about his decision to postpone his booster shot. “If I hadn’t fallen ill, I would have had that syringe put in a long time ago. I am therefore in favor of vaccination. I don’t want anyone to think I’m some kind of Novak Djokovic.”

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