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Teams & Riders General topic for riders who don't deserve their own thread (yet)

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Nothing more than average. His top 10 in Colombia is perhaps something to build on, but all of his other results aren't exactly impressive to me, for a 24yo.

Which is why I posted about him here, and didn't instantly go "Torstein Træen is the new Whoever!" Besides, having your breakthrough at 24 isn't that late, I think our expectations might simply have been slightly screwed by all the kids coming in and winning big races first thing.
 
Apparently Van Wilder had 2 punctures prior to the first climb and it cost him a bit to get back. Leknessund got dropped about the same time but i read somewhere that he would focus primarily on the ITT. Both lost around 2 minutes but still in the top 30. Tejada on the other hand, was very good on the last climb and only lost about 1m20s.

He seems like he has been træening well over the winter.
Considering a namechange. Torstein > Chuchu.
 
Don't think Tejada will have many opportunities to ride for himself unfortunately.

Almeida was hands down the most impressive amongst the youngsters here, he set the pace for a few km and still managed to finish just outside the top10.

Geniets has also been a pleasant surprise so far. Leknessund and Van Wilder were ok, it's the first race of the season and they are not used to be competitive so early so there's probably room for improvement.
 
Don't think Tejada will have many opportunities to ride for himself unfortunately.

Almeida was hands down the most impressive amongst the youngsters here, he set the pace for a few km and still managed to finish just outside the top10.

Geniets has also been a pleasant surprise so far. Leknessund and Van Wilder were ok, it's the first race of the season and they are not used to be competitive so early so there's probably room for improvement.
Thought Tejada was also strong and quite promising. Considering Van Wilder's two punctures and having to chase twice on the hardest stage of the week, i think his result is quite extraordinary. Don't forget he's two years younger than Almeida for instance and the youngest of the entire peloton. This was really a quality field, and i think all of them did great. Almeida was a beast, top 10 in GC. But also Leknessund and Van Wilder snuck into the top 20 of GC with a strong ITT performance. Kämna didn't get much hype this week but also a strong performance by him:

 
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I'd like to give a good shout out to Ben King...a guy who does not get much mention at NTT...but is one of the most steady guys they have. Always in a long break, and ready to do work...He had a very nice ride to hold on to 8th in Ardeche Rhone. He seems the epitome of a great teammate.
 
For those bored out of their skull, a student journalism made a piece about Ilan Van Wilder (who turned 20 this week btw). It's in Dutch but subtitled in English. About his choice for Sunweb, leaving Lotto, how he got into cycling, some insights in how Sunweb works, power training, his trainers and nutricionists etc at sunweb are interviewed as well. For those who don't know him, he finished in the top 20 of GC in Algarve (his first pro race) a few months ago and was 3rd in l'Avenir last year:

 
James Knox can't wait to return to the Giro.


With the European time trial champion Remco Evenepoel, the Briton is part of the young guard of Deceuninck-Quick Step for stage races. 11th in the 2019 Tour of Spain, James Knox wanted to use last season to continue his progression in 2020. Despite the end of the season, due to the health crisis linked to COVID-19, the native of Kendal keeps goals for the future. The 24-year-old racer hopes to return to the Tour of Italy after a difficult first experience last year (retirement during the 13th stage).

"I wanted to attack this season. I felt good on the UAE Tour. I showed that I could be strong when the weather conditions were right. It was nice to run and fight for the stage victory This year, the Giro should have been my first big goal of the season. I also wanted to test myself on the Ardennes classics, I was delighted to be able to face these races. Stay at home and think that I would have must have been there remains a very strange feeling I can't wait to return to the Tour of Italy and I hope I can do well ", explains James Knox in remarks reported by Spazio Ciclismo.
 
Leknessund (unsurprisingly, imho) won a Norwegian climbing ITT ahead of Tobias Foss.
View: https://twitter.com/cykleforbundet/status/1263180771298365443

Ah, already posted

First outdoor competition after lock down was held yesterday in Norway. A KOM ITT on the short Kleivstua climb. The venue was kept a secret to avoid spectators. 10 of the best Norwegian pro riders were allowed to participate. The young guns took the podium.

  1. Andreas Leknessund 10,12
  2. Tobias Foss +21
  3. Ådne Holter +34
  4. Iver Knotten +37
  5. Carl Fredrik Hagen +39
  6. Edvald Boasson Hagen +43
  7. Rasmus Tiller +57
  8. Torstein Tæen +1,28
  9. Øyvind Lukkedal +1,34
  10. Trond Håkon Trondsen +1,34
 

Some outtakes:

Although Bagioli is still far from the level of Evenepoel, Lodewyck sees a lot of room for progress in the young climber. "He never trained extremely much. He still has a lot of stretch. "

Besides climber, puncher, climber / puncheur, the role of classification rider is also anything but off the table. The profit in various final rankings indicates that the young Italian has a good recovery capacity. However, he has a weak spot, and that is his time trial.

Again it was Bagioli and Leknessund who had the best legs and again it was the Italian who had the best closing punch. On the last inclined meters he drove nine seconds away from the Norwegian.
 
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Leknessund (unsurprisingly, imho) won a Norwegian climbing ITT ahead of Tobias Foss.
Supposedly, Leknessund pushed 6.75 W/Kg during the ITT.
488W for 72kg over 10 mins.

He also pushed an average 467W for 12m31s up the Tryvann in Oslo, to break CF Hagen's record.

And appaently 399W over 58 minutes for 50km for a Norwegian record.
 
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Vansevenant will ride Tour de l'Ain and also Dauphiné. Curious how he'll do. He has a beautiful style while climbing, a bit like Contador Mollema.

 

Huge interview with Ilan Van Wilder

***

I'll add his schedule here:

7-9/08 Tour De L’ain
14-19/08 Tour De L’avenir
24/08 EK TT U23
25/08 Bretagne Classic
30/08 Brussels Cycling Classic
16-19/09 Tour De Slovaquie
25/09 WK Road U23
30/09 Flèche Wallonne
4/10 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
7/10 Brabantse Pijl
 
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Some great riding by Almeida, Van Wilder & Hänninen in Tour de l'Ain yesterday. Hänninen was in the break, escaped again, but only lost a bit over 2 minutes ultimately. Almeida kept fighting in the chase against Bennett (leading the Jumbo train) and ultimately only lost 15 seconds. Van Wilder (nearly half a year younger than Evenepoel), i have no words, finished 5 minutes ahead of team leader Oomen and "Avenir-rival" Arensman, had to do the last 20k solo, and only lost 1m 20s on Roglic.
 
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