Best u23 riders in 2013

[Jason_Mercier]

Amazing. Jakob u are Huge. Thanks for all the details.

 

[the asian]

Yep. Kudos 2 JaKob. Especially at keeping track of the talent coming from Colombia.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

I think Dombro is a bit explosive. The one pass MTN stages suits him very well.

 

[Flamin]

Jasper Stuyven.

 

[the asian]

Jasper Stuyven.

He's a forgotten guy since he joined Bontrager Livestrong.

Hopefully he will turn pro with a Belgian team.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Some guys that could be interesting, that havent been named yet.

Damien Howson
Very good time trialist who will have his 3rd year as U23. I think he will be the favourite for the world title in the U23 ranks this year.

Olivier Le Gac
Became world champion as a first year junior, followed by a very solid 2nd year as junior. Last year he disappointed me a bit though. Hill guy

Ivar Slik
Was very good as a junior, good sprint, good time trialist and pretty good on the hills. Already rode between the pro’s in 2012 in his first year as U23 (Tour of China) in which he got 5th overall and a 3rd place on a stage.

Niccolo Bonifazio
Had an amazing first U23 year. Sprinter type curious if he can improve on 2012.

Caleb Ewan
Most people already know him here, very fast sprinter but can also survive the hills.

 

[Flamin]

He's a forgotten guy since he joined Bontrager Livestrong.

Hopefully he will turn pro with a Belgian team.

it's a bit strange that a team like Topsport-Vlaanderen didn't pick him up for this year already.

Heck, his 7th place among the pros on the citadel van Namen is a better result than a lot of their riders have achieved throughout their entire career

 

[greenedge]

I voted Manfredi.

I also think the Dutch riders will go well and Valgren who is dedicating himself to the road.

Howson should be the best prologue rider and get the WC ITT titile.

 

[FF'Wilco]

Thanks for all the names dropped, looks like it's more popular to drop some unknown names that might be great in future instead of discussing current top u23 riders btw, ive never heard about those Colombians mentioned by jakob but both looks like a interesting prospects.

From the list i've added to the topic Villella is a safe bet. He already have a pro contract with Cannondale for 2014 and he had a great season in italian amateurs. I hope in 2013 he will have more chances in the international scene.

Imo the biggest talent from all of them is Lecusinier, he had a perfect season in juniors (2011 World and European champion) and then in the first year in u23 he won Ronde de l'Isard which is one of the hardest stage races in 2.2U category. And Lecuisinier is not a climber he weights 68kgs and he's mostly a classics/cobbles rider. It's a long way for him of course but he may develop into "next Bartoli".

 

[timcoppens]

No one mentions Davide Formolo & Valerio Conti ?

I can see both of them dominate the mountain stage races in Italy.

Alexis Gougeard will probably go good in France also.

Voted for Villella since he is the most mature rider on the list. But Lecuisinier is the most talented imo.

 

[maltiv]

Which juniors will already shine in u23 in their first year ? Or maybe none of them can ?

Perhaps Oskar Svendsen will be a man to watch. But I'm not sure about his preparation this year. Might've gotten a bit overconfident after his world title and VO2 max record.

That said, he doesn't really have any results outside of ITT's, but he's only been cycling for 3-4 years or so. He will probably need another year or two before he starts performing in the u23 category.

 

[maltiv]

Sonder Holst Enger – Classics material. Caught a virus after the Norwigian nationals last year and had the second part of the season ruined.

He's also quite fast, was 4th on a sprint stage in Tour of Norway last year and won a couple of bunch sprints for lesser placings in the early part of the season.

 

[Andre.J]

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck

 

[theyoungest]

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck

What U23 races is he gonna win?

 

[the asian]

Any youngsters coming up from Spain? There seems to be dearth of quality youngsters in Spain at the moment, even though I have a fairly good idea behind the reasons for it.

 

[Pentacycle]

Any youngsters coming up from Spain? There seems to be dearth of quality youngsters in Spain at the moment, even though I have a fairly good idea behind the reasons for it.

Exactly zero talented U23's. Even Carlos Verona, who's being talked up as being very talented, has no decent results whatsoever.

 

[Ruudz0r]

Exactly zero talented U23's. Even Carlos Verona, who's being talked up as being very talented, has no decent results whatsoever.

So thats why he got a contract at quick step while only being just 20? He got 48th in Vuelta a Burgos which is a 2.HC race when he was only 19. And he got 9th in GC in Toscana Terra Di Ciclismo, which had a very strong field. He also had a few decent results in his first year as a U23, and did well in smaller Spanish races. So he does have some decent results.

Another good Spanish talent is Enric Mas Nicolau, but he will still be a junior next year.

 

[timcoppens]

Francisco Jose Medina Abril is considered to be pretty talented. The most obvious reason why Spaniards don't look that talented in youth ranks is because they don't race that much internationally and are hard to track.

You got to be honest, they don't race a lot of International races. They didn't even race in the European Championships.

Apart from Toscana (9th with Verona), Tour de l'Avenir (disaster), Roubaix (where they don't belong) & the worlds they ride nothing international.

It's true that they don't have a good 92'-90' generation. But there are some younger ones incomming that can do okay.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

'Exactly zero talented U23's. Even Carlos Verona, who's being talked up as being very talented, has no decent results whatsoever"

HAHA Verona dominated all stage races he participated in juniors:

Exhibition in the Sierra Norte against the bests spanish teams of the category, general classification, mountain classification, regularity jersey and the best young guy of the race. He made a bloodbath in the queen stage of Torrelaguna with an attack in the first meters of the begin. Exhibition in Galapagar showing his superiority and putting huge differences in the finish line. Domination in the championship of Terrasa before the bests spanish juniors, one more time attacking from far and creating big differences. Victories in Cataluña, Andalucía, in the ITT championship of Madrid, uncountable mountain classifications won, best junior of the Rfec ranking... Verona is the best national junior of the lasts years without doubt.

 

[Kazistuta]

It's true that they don't have a good 92'-90' generation. But there are some younger ones incomming that can do okay.

I think it's going to be interesting to see the development of Jordi Simon (from ´90)......

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Then he showed big things in the Tour of Pays de Savoie (6° in the overall classification and the best young guy) Vuelta a Besaya before the Jungels and Shalunov and in the Nations Cup (Toscana) Of course Verona doesnt have results

 

[timcoppens]

I think it's going to be interesting to see the development of Jordi Simon (from ´90)......

Sure there are some talents, I mean Herrada isn't bad eather. And Verona obviously is talented, but it's just not the best generation from Spain.

To bad Simon had to drop a level, I thought he was pretty talented also at the start of the prev. season. But now I can't see him become a subtopper tbh. Same thing happened with Diego Milan some years ago, was really talented but never made it.

I can't see riders like Fraile or Bilbao make it to the top. So apart from Herrada & Verona I don't see any 90'-92' spanish rider become a leader. Even Herrada wil not become a leader, but a well rounded good rider.

 

[theyoungest]

So thats why he got a contract at quick step while only being just 20? He got 48th in Vuelta a Burgos which is a 2.HC race when he was only 19. And he got 9th in GC in Toscana Terra Di Ciclismo, which had a very strong field. He also had a few decent results in his first year as a U23, and did well in smaller Spanish races. So he does have some decent results.

Another good Spanish talent is Enric Mas Nicolau, but he will still be a junior next year.

Decent results, but why he immediately got a contract at OPQS is beyond me. Maybe in training they've seen some things that we haven't yet seen on the road.

Although of course to distinguish yourself as a climber on that team isn't very hard.

 

[Pentacycle]

HAHA Verona dominated all stage races he participated in juniors:

Exhibition in the Sierra Norte against the bests spanish teams of the category, general classification, mountain classification, regularity jersey and the best young guy of the race. He made a bloodbath in the queen stage of Torrelaguna with an attack in the first meters of the begin. Exhibition in Galapagar showing his superiority and putting huge differences in the finish line. Domination in the championship of Terrasa before the bests spanish juniors, one more time attacking from far and creating big differences. Victories in Cataluña, Andalucía, in the ITT championship of Madrid, uncountable mountain classifications won, best junior of the Rfec ranking... Verona is the best national junior of the lasts years without doubt.

We aren't discussing junior results here, that's not an indication he's a top talent. There are many riders with more talent in the espoir category atm. Where did he showcase an above average talent in the U23, except for the 'impressive' 48th in Burgos?

 

[El Pistolero]

He's riding at a WT team, not in the U23 scene, hence he can't showcase anything there.

If you're still stuck in the U23 scene at age 22/23 you can't be all that talented even if you dominate the ranks.