- Feb 6, 2016
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I'm surprised that Moscon's taken so long to get a bandwagon started; very strong at under-23 level, including 2nd at the youth Ronde van Vlaanderen and victory in the Italian nationals, before moving over to Team Sky in the in the winter for this, his first season as a pro. He's perfectly suited to the northern classics, and that's been shown vey nicely this season. 18th at Strade Bianche is impressive enough, but he was magnificent as a domestique in Kuurne-Brussels Kuurne and attacked strongly in Nokere Koerse, eventually finishing 7th. That brings us to today's performance, his debut Paris-Roubaix, where he was a key part of Sky's drive for victory. He was well placed enough to follow Martin's acceleration, and chipped in with the peacemaking when the Boonen-Stannard group took off, but he was really impressive after all the groups came back together. As Cancellara and company were driving the chase group on, Moscon's efforts at the front of the race helped to hold them off. Of course, his most notable intervention in the race was his unfortunate crash, which also took out Luke Rowe, but impressively enough for a man whose 22nd birthday is just next week, he got back on his bike! He eventually came in in 38th place - the youngest rider in the top 50. He might well be racing in his homeland for his first GT this May, but what really sticks out is how prominent he's been on the cobblestones and how much stamina he already seems to possess. His peacemaking and moving up the bunch have been hard to miss, and while his strength has not been translated into results as eye-catching as Benoot's last year, he's made up for it with his willing self-sacrifice. He'll most likely stay on the domestique duty he's excelled at so far this year for a few seasons yet, since Ian Stannard is 28 and Luke Rowe 26; it will be fascinating to see if he graduates to duelling with his fellow major young talents like Benoot, Stuyven, Theuns, Küng, and Cort Nielsen.
Anyone else aboard the hype train?
Anyone else aboard the hype train?