Well, I'm of the belief that Merhawi Kudus is really talented, and it's about time we started talking about him.
I'm certainly a bit biased to root for him, for a few reasons. First, I've got a bit of a soft spot for Eritrea. The city I live in has a small but notable Eritrean population, and I've gotten to know that community a bit because of some work I've done with newcomer organizations, but mostly because my friend married an Eritrean woman and they had the most fun wedding party I've ever been to in a back yard with amazing food and dancing and goat cooking on an open fire. The people I've met from Eritrea are warm and fun and funny and I don't think that country gets much attention for positive things (or at all) in general, so having success in sport is an exciting prospect.
Second, I am generally a fan of 'new' cycling nations succeeding on the highest level. Of course, there is the obvious added level of newness in terms of skin colour - pro cycling has largely been a white sport, a European sport. The latter has been chipped away at in recent decades, the former not as much. The sport could benefit - both in image and in substance (as there are still reports of racist slurs in the peloton) - from a little diversity. That this is a very visible and perhaps fashionable cause to get behind doesn't make it any less interesting or important to me.
Third, he's on my CQ game team.
Anyway, let's talk cycling talent. The kid just turned 22 years old, and he's a third-year pro, where things should start happening. This is the most extensive list of articles I could find about him, but I'm sure there's a lot more info out there, so feel free to contribute. In two years as a pro, he's only DNF'd 2 stage races - he crashed out of Turkey in 2014, and I think he crashed out of Langkawi in 2015 but I can't remember exactly why he DNFd. In his neo-pro year the team had a plan to take him out of the Vuelta after ten stages. It went worse than expected, he crashed a bunch, but insisted on staying in and made it to Madrid. Last year he coped with the madness that is the Tour de France as the youngest rider there, and although he rode it anonymously, he finished in Paris. He's a determined rider.
Finishing 2nd in Langkawi at the start of his neo-pro year was eye-catching, but it hasn't quite come together like that again in his first two years. 2016 has gotten off to a bit of a more solid start, as he made the select group and finished 6th on the hardest day of Mallorca. Then he animated the Green Mountain stage of Oman, staying with the top group of Bardet, Nibali and Fuglsang before blowing up a bit and finishing 6th on the stage, 9th overall. Still, good company to keep for a 22-year old, and instead of saying how happy he was to stay with those riders, he talked about how his gearing choices could have been better. A little ambition is a good part of the recipe for success. Doug Ryder says he's going to send him to the Giro to see if he can take a mountain stage, and then who knows what. He's already finished the Vuelta and the Tour so he knows what it takes, and he's already shown he can climb with the best. If he can put those together he might show something real as early as this year.
Eritrea has two other notable top riders right now, which are Teklehaimanot and Berhane. Both are talented and strong, but I've never had that sense of 'wow, this guy could really do some huge things' watching either of them. Certainly Berhane is only 25 and has shown he can top 5 (and, indeed, win) HC and .1 races, but by 'huge things' I mean visions of a top 5 in a GT. I would be happy to be proven wrong if either of these other riders should do that, but I feel like Kudus is really the talent most likely to do that.
Anyway, what do you guys think?
I'm certainly a bit biased to root for him, for a few reasons. First, I've got a bit of a soft spot for Eritrea. The city I live in has a small but notable Eritrean population, and I've gotten to know that community a bit because of some work I've done with newcomer organizations, but mostly because my friend married an Eritrean woman and they had the most fun wedding party I've ever been to in a back yard with amazing food and dancing and goat cooking on an open fire. The people I've met from Eritrea are warm and fun and funny and I don't think that country gets much attention for positive things (or at all) in general, so having success in sport is an exciting prospect.
Second, I am generally a fan of 'new' cycling nations succeeding on the highest level. Of course, there is the obvious added level of newness in terms of skin colour - pro cycling has largely been a white sport, a European sport. The latter has been chipped away at in recent decades, the former not as much. The sport could benefit - both in image and in substance (as there are still reports of racist slurs in the peloton) - from a little diversity. That this is a very visible and perhaps fashionable cause to get behind doesn't make it any less interesting or important to me.
Third, he's on my CQ game team.
Anyway, let's talk cycling talent. The kid just turned 22 years old, and he's a third-year pro, where things should start happening. This is the most extensive list of articles I could find about him, but I'm sure there's a lot more info out there, so feel free to contribute. In two years as a pro, he's only DNF'd 2 stage races - he crashed out of Turkey in 2014, and I think he crashed out of Langkawi in 2015 but I can't remember exactly why he DNFd. In his neo-pro year the team had a plan to take him out of the Vuelta after ten stages. It went worse than expected, he crashed a bunch, but insisted on staying in and made it to Madrid. Last year he coped with the madness that is the Tour de France as the youngest rider there, and although he rode it anonymously, he finished in Paris. He's a determined rider.
Finishing 2nd in Langkawi at the start of his neo-pro year was eye-catching, but it hasn't quite come together like that again in his first two years. 2016 has gotten off to a bit of a more solid start, as he made the select group and finished 6th on the hardest day of Mallorca. Then he animated the Green Mountain stage of Oman, staying with the top group of Bardet, Nibali and Fuglsang before blowing up a bit and finishing 6th on the stage, 9th overall. Still, good company to keep for a 22-year old, and instead of saying how happy he was to stay with those riders, he talked about how his gearing choices could have been better. A little ambition is a good part of the recipe for success. Doug Ryder says he's going to send him to the Giro to see if he can take a mountain stage, and then who knows what. He's already finished the Vuelta and the Tour so he knows what it takes, and he's already shown he can climb with the best. If he can put those together he might show something real as early as this year.
Eritrea has two other notable top riders right now, which are Teklehaimanot and Berhane. Both are talented and strong, but I've never had that sense of 'wow, this guy could really do some huge things' watching either of them. Certainly Berhane is only 25 and has shown he can top 5 (and, indeed, win) HC and .1 races, but by 'huge things' I mean visions of a top 5 in a GT. I would be happy to be proven wrong if either of these other riders should do that, but I feel like Kudus is really the talent most likely to do that.
Anyway, what do you guys think?
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