The best prospects from your home country

[Clemson Cycling]

I always love looking at the younger riders (U23 type deal) coming through the system. It might be an American thing with colossus that college sports plays on the American sporting map. People love to think about what could be and how bright the possible future is.
I guess I will start things off as we look to the future of the sport.

USA
1. Tejay van Garderen (21)- HTC-Columbia, might be the greatest GC cycling prospect the United States has ever produced. The sky is the limit but the team is not the best fit right now

2. Taylor Phinney (20)- Trek-Livestrong- The kid is great and is the all around package when it comes to the classics. He was a world champion on the track. He is a world champion on the track and has won the U23 Paris-Roubaix twice. He has also proved that he has the legs to sprint it out when he needs to an looks to be a very good time trialist. Radioshack is going to try to build him into the great classics threat that America has never produced.

3. Peter Stetina (22)- Garmin-Transitions- He is on a great team that has built some really good talent over the past few years and Vaughters has spoken the world of him. Only time will tell how good he turns out to be.

4. Alex Howes (22)- Team Holowesko Partners- Another young kid in the Garmin-Transitions development program that has proved some impressive results and could become a very talented climber/GC threat some day.

5. Ben King (21)- Trek-Livestrong- won the U23 US Championships in both the road race and criterium and seems to be a decent time trialist

 

[mowie133]

leigh howard HTC-Columbia... Madison world track champion..stage win tour of oman,two wins at tour of japan,all at just 20

 

[Mambo95]

From Britain:

Currently on Pro-Tour teams

Peter Kennaugh (21) - GC guy
Ben Swift (22) - sprinter
Ian Stannard (22) - cobbled classics
Adam Blythe (20) - sprinter
Johnny Bellis (21) - hopefully returning from nearly dying (a good omen - see Armstrong, Contador & Evans)

Looking to break through

Alex Dowsett (21) - Currently at Livestrong
Andrew Fenn (19) - Junior Paris-Roubaix winner
Erick Rowsell (19)
Tim Kennaugh (18)


Probably some others

 

[ingsve]

Sweden is not swarming with young talent at the moment. There are a few young riders that could potentially be something but nothing that stands out as much as when Thomas Löfkvist or Gustav Larsson emerged.

Some notables are perhaps Alexander Wetterhall (24), Sebastian Balck (22) Patrik Stenberg (20) Philip Lindau (19) and perhaps a few more.

 

[Glockers]

Jack Borbridge, Cameron Meyer and I guess Riche Porte after the Giro performance.

 

[Anonymous]

From Britain:


Probably some others

yup... (nine, ten)

 

[PCutter]

One of the interesting match ups Im looking forward to over the coming years, likely to really start after the London Olympics in 2012 is Taylor Phinney (USA/Shack) vs Jack Bobridge (Aus/Garmin). They've swapped the 4000m individual pursuit world champion jersey/world record with the 4000m generally seen as a good sign of a big motor.

Garmin have done a deal (sort of) with the Aust Institute of Sport to release our young riders for the big track events while also bringing them on as professional road riders, they have, in addition to Bobridge, the Myer brothers Cam and Travis - both world champions.

For a real young pick from Australia, Michael Hepburn, world record holder for U19 3000m pursuit (juniors don't race the 4000m) taking Taylor Phinney's record I think. All these Australians will stay somewhat anonymous on the road until after the 2012 Olympics after which they'll likely focus exclusively on the road.

There's a NZ'er Jesse Sargent (another 4000m pursuiter) at Trek Livstrong who could also be the goods, but like Australians 10-15 years ago, may struggle to get given the opportunities to lead/go for personal goals and may just become a great domestique.

 

[Ferminal]

Richie Porte (25)
Matthew Goss (23)
Cameron Meyer (22)
Jack Bobridge (21)
Leigh Howard (20)

Still to make it on the road:

Rohan Dennis (20)
Luke Durbridge (19)
Michael Hepburn (18)
Dale Parker (18)

I don't really know of anyone outside the track program, it seems most talent is concentrated there.

Dale Parker now holds the U19 3000m record which was previously held by Hepburn and before him Phinney.

 

[badboyberty]

Richie Porte (25)
Matthew Goss (23)
Cameron Meyer (22)
Jack Bobridge (21)
Leigh Howard (20)

Still to make it on the road:

Rohan Dennis (20)
Luke Durbridge (19)
Michael Hepburn (18)
Dale Parker (18)

I don't really know of anyone outside the track program, it seems most talent is concentrated there.

Dale Parker now holds the U19 3000m record which was previously held by Hepburn and before him Phinney.

Don't forget Tim Roe. the only reason we don't hear more about him I think is Trek-Livestrong don't want to admit they have an Aussie who's a much better GC prospect than Taylor Phinney.

He hasn't won much, but he's only just been getting to race on sufficiently mountainous terrain to show off his skills.

 

[khodder]

There's a NZ'er Jesse Sargent (another 4000m pursuiter) at Trek Livstrong who could also be the goods, but like Australians 10-15 years ago, may struggle to get given the opportunities to lead/go for personal goals and may just become a great domestique.

Was coming her to mention Jesse. the only other would probably be Sam Bewley. Is 22 turns 23 next week and is currently on the RadioShack squad. Probably nothing more than a Domestique rider though.

 

[Sasquatch]

Richie Porte (25)
Matthew Goss (23)
Cameron Meyer (22)
Jack Bobridge (21)
Leigh Howard (20)

Still to make it on the road:

Rohan Dennis (20)
Luke Durbridge (19)
Michael Hepburn (18)
Dale Parker (18)

I don't really know of anyone outside the track program, it seems most talent is concentrated there.

Dale Parker now holds the U19 3000m record which was previously held by Hepburn and before him Phinney.

Will Clarke - Stagiare with Ag2r for the remainder of the season. Big one day rider.

 

[mowie133]

Don't forget Tim Roe. the only reason we don't hear more about him I think is Trek-Livestrong don't want to admit they have an Aussie who's a much better GC prospect than Taylor Phinney.

He hasn't won much, but he's only just been getting to race on sufficiently mountainous terrain to show off his skills.

awww i was thinking of him!!! couldn't remeber his name,that kid is a gun by all reports the next big thing,but as you said he is hideing away... ,,,but big wraps on that kid!!

 

[Lyds97]

From Britain:


Probably some others

Definitely some exciting prospects coming through. Remember when all we had was a prologue hope in Chris Boardman (then David Millar)?

Alex Dowsett is a good shout - winner of the British U23 time trial championships in 08 and 09 and 7th at worlds U23 last year. Have a soft spot for him as he's an Essex boy; he rode in my dad's club's Evening 10 last week and beat my dad by 10 minutes

 

[Cerberus]

Well in Denmark the main guys right now are:

Matii Breschel who was properly the 3rd strongest cobbled rider this season.

Jacob Fuglsang who's the big GC hope we have right now, still hasn't quite shown the ability to compete with the best in the mountian though.

Chris Anker Sørensen who's a strong climber but doesn't TT so well. Basiocally he's like the Schlecks, just not as good. Mostly a guy who can win stages IMO.

We also have a number of young (well even younger) guys, like Rasmus Guldhammer (possible hilly classics or GC guy), Lasse Norman (TT specialist) and a couple of other guys who might do big things in 2-5 years. Junior doesn't get so much coverage so I can only name those 2. Overall I think the future is looking fairly bright for Danish cycling with 3 strong young riders and more possibly coming up.

 

[Kazistuta]

There's some more unknown Danish riders I'm looking forward to seing on a bigger stage:

Rasmus Quaade - great TT prospect, came third at the European ITT championships in '08 after Kritskey and Marcel Kittel.

Niki Østergaard - a.o. second in U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Emil Hovmand - a.o. fourth in the junior Paris-Roubaix '08 two spots behind Peter Sagan

Sebastian Lander - a.o. third in U23 L-B-L

Mathias Lisson - I just got a soft spot for him

As you mention, there's not much focus on the Danish U23 scene, but hopefully the continuation of Saxo/Sungard/whatever will help us get some more youngsters in contention.

Also: I think Jonas Aaen will prove very capable next year, his debut season at Saxo has so far been beyond expectations.

 

[Mambo95]

Definitely some exciting prospects coming through. Remember when all we had was a prologue hope in Chris Boardman (then David Millar)?

I remember when we were pretending that Cioni, Backstedt and McEwen were British, so thin on the ground were British cyclists.

 

[Christian]

Jacob Fuglsang who's the big GC hope we have right now, still hasn't quite shown the ability to compete with the best in the mountian though.

Chris Anker Sørensen who's a strong climber but doesn't TT so well. Basiocally he's like the Schlecks, just not as good. Mostly a guy who can win stages IMO.

Yeah I was hoping for both of them to be much stronger this year - Fuglsang finished over 20 minutes back on Madeleine! It seems like he really has the potential but he needs to step it up a lot if he wants to be Sungard-?'s leader next year!

Luxembourg:

1) Ben Gastauer (22/AG2R) - Ardennes, climber.

2) Bob Jungels (17 or 18) really good TT'er (silver medal in last year's European championship)

3) Laurent Didier - great domestique and pretty decent climber

 

[The Hitch]

a lot of the guys mentioned come from the track. Dont most of the best road riders get started on the road earlier?

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah I was hoping for both of them to be much stronger this year - Fuglsang finished over 20 minutes back on Madeleine! It seems like he really has the potential but he needs to step it up a lot if he wants to be Sungard-?'s leader next year!

I guess he didn't really try anymore after being dropped, there's no point really, and now they have a jersey to defend. And the Schleck-Fuglsang double whammy was already gone after Fuglsang's bad day on the very first mountain stage.

 

[galaxy1]

a lot of the guys mentioned come from the track. Dont most of the best road riders get started on the road earlier?

as mentioned above, in britain we get them doing meaningless local 10 mile time trials until all we have left from our home-grown riders is a vague prologue threat.

 

[TRDean]

I always love looking at the younger riders (U23 type deal) coming through the system. It might be an American thing with colossus that college sports plays on the American sporting map. People love to think about what could be and how bright the possible future is.
I guess I will start things off as we look to the future of the sport.

USA
1. Tejay van Garderen (21)- HTC-Columbia, might be the greatest GC cycling prospect the United States has ever produced. The sky is the limit but the team is not the best fit right now

2. Taylor Phinney (20)- Trek-Livestrong- The kid is great and is the all around package when it comes to the classics. He was a world champion on the track. He is a world champion on the track and has won the U23 Paris-Roubaix twice. He has also proved that he has the legs to sprint it out when he needs to an looks to be a very good time trialist. Radioshack is going to try to build him into the great classics threat that America has never produced.

3. Peter Stetina (22)- Garmin-Transitions- He is on a great team that has built some really good talent over the past few years and Vaughters has spoken the world of him. Only time will tell how good he turns out to be.

4. Alex Howes (22)- Team Holowesko Partners- Another young kid in the Garmin-Transitions development program that has proved some impressive results and could become a very talented climber/GC threat some day.

5. Ben King (21)- Trek-Livestrong- won the U23 US Championships in both the road race and criterium and seems to be a decent time trialist

Good list here...Ben King is a beast and getting better by the minute! He is more that a decent time trialist...has won TTs this season. He is a all around rider...(mountains jersey in Portugal). I think GC up and comers are between him and TeJay. This is a great thread!

 

[delbified]

some good talent coming through for Australia, as listed above. like most aussies i'm used to feeling mostly shock when we win sport on the world stage (cricket doesn't count) but we have a lot of cycling talent coming through and it's not even a major sport here. i checked the AIS website and we don't have any former east german coaches either.

 

[Cerberus]

There's some more unknown Danish riders I'm looking forward to seing on a bigger stage:

Rasmus Quaade - great TT prospect, came third at the European ITT championships in '08 after Kritskey and Marcel Kittel.

Niki Østergaard - a.o. second in U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Emil Hovmand - a.o. fourth in the junior Paris-Roubaix '08 two spots behind Peter Sagan

Sebastian Lander - a.o. third in U23 L-B-L

Mathias Lisson - I just got a soft spot for him

As you mention, there's not much focus on the Danish U23 scene, but hopefully the continuation of Saxo/Sungard/whatever will help us get some more youngsters in contention.

Also: I think Jonas Aaen will prove very capable next year, his debut season at Saxo has so far been beyond expectations.

Ah yes, those are the ones I was forgetting you've clearly been following that closer than men (or have a better memory for names). Aaen has in fact done well, I'm not sure if he has what it takes to go the top. I find it difficult to extrapolate from good domestique work to stardom, time will tell though.

Yeah I was hoping for both of them to be much stronger this year - Fuglsang finished over 20 minutes back on Madeleine! It seems like he really has the potential but he needs to step it up a lot if he wants to be Sungard-?'s leader next year!

Fuglsang has disappointed a bit, but he's seemed stronger in the last days, obviously time stopped being a factor when he dropped out of the GC. In any case he's strongly rumoured to be going to team Schleck next year. That means Saxo is really going to need another GC guy or they'll have to send what amounts to a very strong stage hunting team to the Tour next year. On the other hand that might be fun to watch to and Chris Anker can go for the mountains jersey like he wants.

 

[mORGAN]

Will Clarke - Stagiare with Ag2r for the remainder of the season. Big one day rider.

Maybe check out a Canberra kid named Michael Matthews who rides in AIS/SKINS. Should turn Pro at the end of the year.

Hepburn is more a trackie at present.

 

[Kwibus]

I'm not into the youth. No idea where to get much information about it.

Anyways I'm curious about dutch talent? Any of the dutch people have an idea?