They are doing it since 2018. It's because it's increasingly difficult to find places that want to host those races, especially in Germany. It's a real problem. So they've started to hold them together and are rotating each year with which country is hosting. Last year Covid cancelled the plans and this year the Swiss were not able to organize, so Sachsenring stepped in.
On his instagram stories he was already posting photo's before the race in which he was declared the favourite for today. He certainly doesn't lack confidence.
"About 60 kilometers from the finish, Uijtdebroeks had started his big race
to catch up at the front of the field and in the mountainous part of the race
first made up the 2:30 minutes behind the breakaway and then 30 kilometers from
the finish with teammate Lührs his last companion at the front suspended.
As a result, the young Belgian continued to expand his lead and in the end was
able to walk over the finish line with a lead of just under five minutes and
lift his bike into the air to cheer, in the style of the Belgian cross specialists."
(...)
Uijtdebroeks:
"The win here is even nicer than the one in the Czech Republic.
I've had this race in my mind since the beginning of the season, as there
are only a few real hill climbs for us juniors."
(...)
I want to become a cyclist for the general classement. That's my dream."
Boras Riesentalent Uijtdebroeks feiert Sieg wie ein Crosser | radsport-news.com
www.radsport-news.com
For the gc it's probably Ayuso vs Vandenabeele vs the Trinity boys.
The Uno-X trio, Charmig + Johannessens, could well be the strongest climbing team in the race I think. And Hellemose is also targeting the Podium and specifically prepared for this.
If Pira has his Vuelta a Colombia legs he should be one of the strongest in the high mountains.
That sucks. In Italy we're seeing that it's often the guys who work with the track coaches of the national team who become good pros. Most of the Colpack guys who made it like Ganna and Consonni are track guys, those coaches seem to be more modern and less conservative in their approach. Someone like Tiberi had a coach from the national team assinged to him when he was still a junior and Ayuso is a monster talent and is getting coached already by UAE, so you can't really give Colpack too much credit for those 2 either.
It's easy to overlook guys in this category, with guys like Ponomar, Brenner, Simmons, Van Wilder, Evenepoel and even Pogacar... all still being within the age bracket of U23 races.
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