U23 races and talents

[Samamba]

Who has some info on Colombian Abner Santiago Umba Lopez? Just won on La Planche des Belles filles in the Tour d'Alsace, beating Reichenbach among others. 18 year old. Pretty impressive.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Who has some info on Colombian Abner Santiago Umba Lopez? Just won on La Planche des Belles filles in the Tour d'Alsace, beating Reichenbach among others. 18 year old. Pretty impressive.

Savio's next ultramythical climber, the new Santi!
4th on the gc in the Vuelta a porvenir with 2 stage wins in 2019, he also won a stage in the Vuelta a Pamplona the same year and finished 6th on the gc in the junior Volta a Portugal, all as a first year junior rider and a few months before actually turning 17.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Who has some info on Colombian Abner Santiago Umba Lopez? Just won on La Planche des Belles filles in the Tour d'Alsace, beating Reichenbach among others. 18 year old. Pretty impressive.

I think he's generally known as Santiago Umba. I don't really know him that well, but i know he's seen as a big talent.

 

[SafeBet]

Umba was personally recommended to Savio by Nairo Quintana. They have trained together and their families are pretty close.

He had a solid Vuelta al Tachira early this year. He also wore the leader's jersey in Rwanda albeit for only one day. I think recovery/consistency are still a work in progress but the talent is there.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Here's the full video of the stage (I think I have set it to start inside the final kilometer, where Reuben Thompson is trying to set up Reichenbach). I don't know if Umba normally has a great kick, but he was definitely the fastest in that group,

 

[Mayomaniac]

From what I"ve seenhe seems to have wla decent kick and a decent sprint.

 

[ciranda]

Spanish selection for Avenir with Ayuso, Rodriguez and Romo

Igor Arrieta (Lizarte)
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
Marc Brustenga (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Elite)
Raùl Garcia (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers)
Javier Romo (Astana-Premier Tech)

 

[Bushman]

Spanish selection for Avenir with Ayuso, Rodriguez and Romo

Igor Arrieta (Lizarte)
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
Marc Brustenga (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Elite)
Raùl Garcia (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers)
Javier Romo (Astana-Premier Tech)

Rodriguez just might be Ayuso’s toughest competition. Are they all in for Ayuso?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Spanish selection for Avenir with Ayuso, Rodriguez and Romo

Igor Arrieta (Lizarte)
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
Marc Brustenga (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Elite)
Raùl Garcia (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers)
Javier Romo (Astana-Premier Tech)

Not a big fan of guys who are already on WT teams riding the Tour de l'Avenir, they probably should change the rules.

 

[Bushman]

Not a big fan of guys who are already on WT teams riding the Tour de l'Avenir, they probably should change the rules.

Agreed. I dont quite understand why they changed the rules. Maybe the organizers are afraid the fields will be too weak and the race will become meaningless in time, since more and more riders are turning professional at a young age? I dont know. I feel like the u23 races should be an opportunity for young riders to show themselves, not for the biggest talents who are already pro to pick up some easy results

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Spanish selection for Avenir with Ayuso, Rodriguez and Romo

Igor Arrieta (Lizarte)
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
Marc Brustenga (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Elite)
Raùl Garcia (Equipo Kern Pharma)
Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers)
Javier Romo (Astana-Premier Tech)

Horrible. Pros in espoirs races make the whole thing pointless.

 

[ciranda]

For sure, think it's not a good choice in the bigger picture because those places could have been given to someone who could benefit and learn from the competition more than the already established guys.

 

[yaco]

What is the definition of a Pro ? Think Continental riders are fine but PCT and WT riders should be excluded from L'Avenir.

 

[RedheadDane]

What is the definition of a Pro ? Think Continental riders are fine but PCT and WT riders should be excluded from L'Avenir.

Considering that neo-pros are riders on their first either ProTeam or WorldTeam contract, I'd guess that the definition is riders who are on either a ProTeam or a WorldTeam.
I agree that it seems silly to allow WT riders to ride Tour de l'Avenir, especially since Tour de l'Avenir literally means "Tour of the Future", not "Tour of the Already Here"...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Considering that neo-pros are riders on their first either ProTeam or WorldTeam contract, I'd guess that the definition is riders who are on either a ProTeam or a WorldTeam.
I agree that it seems silly to allow WT riders to ride Tour de l'Avenir, especially since Tour de l'Avenir literally means "Tour of the Future", not "Tour of the Already Here"...

Well the rules have been changed multiple times. Don't forget that Christope Rinero won it the year he also won the polka dots and finished fourth in the Tour.

 

[Samamba]

Santiago Umba wins again. First mountain stage in Tour the Savoie Mont Blanc.

Group of 5 with 3 androni's (Also Cepeda and Ravanelli went over the last climb together. Androni played the numbers game and won. Valentin Paret Peintre and Guerin (he's the new leader) were the other 2 riders.

Looks like those 5 are clearly the strongest in the race, having already a minute on the first chasing group. Gonna be hard to beat Androni, but Umba is young and in Alsace he faded a bit after his impressive win on La Planche des Belles Filles.

 

[SafeBet]

Santiago Umba wins again. First mountain stage in Tour the Savoie Mont Blanc.

Group of 5 with 3 androni's (Also Cepeda and Ravanelli went over the last climb together. Androni played the numbers game and won. Valentin Paret Peintre and Guerin (he's the new leader) were the other 2 riders.

Looks like those 5 are clearly the strongest in the race, having already a minute on the first chasing group. Gonna be hard to beat Androni, but Umba is young and in Alsace he faded a bit after his impressive win on La Planche des Belles Filles.

Yeah, he faded in Rwanda as well. But Androni looks too strong as a team here.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Looks like everyone is bringing pros to l'Avenir. Spain Romo, Ayuso and Rodriguez, Italy has Zana as the leader, Norway the Johannesson twins and Colombia is bringing Ardila and Umba.
I don't like it and they should probably change the rules once again.

 

[RedheadDane]

Looks like everyone is bringing pros to l'Avenir. Spain Romo, Ayuso and Rodriguez, Italy has Zana as the leader, Norway the Johannesson twins and Colombia is bringing Ardila and Umba.
I don't like it and they should probably change the rules once again.

Technically, the Johannesson twins aren't pros yet. Jonas Iversby Hvideberg and Søren Wærenskjold, otoh, are pros already.

And of course, loads of guys who've got a pro contract for next year secured.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Technically, the Johannesson twins aren't pros yet. Jonas Iversby Hvideberg and Søren Wærenskjold, otoh, are pros already.

And of course, loads of guys who've got a pro contract for next year secured.

Yeah, the moving riders around between the pro team and the developmental team and them already racing pro races confused me a bit.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yeah, the moving riders around between the pro team and the developmental team and them already racing pro races confused me a bit.

Speaking of Uno-X riders, both Charmig and Hindsgaul are pros, though Hellemose will probably lead the Danish team, but he is of course a WT rider now. Ukraine is bringing Ponomar.

 

[Anderis]

I feel like the u23 races should be an opportunity for young riders to show themselves, not for the biggest talents who are already pro to pick up some easy results

One does not necessarily exclude the other.

WT riders are only a small fraction of the field. But thanks to them being there it's easier to judge the level of the race and it actually might do favours to those without a pro contract who do well in the race because there are some benchmarks for WT team managers.

Also I'm not against the idea of riders who are already in WT but don't ride for themselves in big races could try how it feels to ride for results against their equals age wise in Tour de l'Avenir. There are plenty of races for u-23 riders where WT riders are not present, so I can't see it as a negative when there's one where those with and without pro contracts can try their strengths against themselves.

The cycling has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Back in the day a rider who had an unfinished business at the u-23 level but was already in WT was the odd one. Now WT teams just often sign 18 y.o's straigth away, not necessarily because they're already too good for u-23 but they want to have them coached by their own coaches and secured on long term deals. It leaves those riders deprived of opportunities to gain confidence by racing against their equals. I see it as a positive that they can compensate for that by doing Tour de l'Avenir.

 

[AlfaLum]

I like it. Many races have changed the rules already, so quite a few chances for U23 riders to race without their proffesional U23 Peers.

The way i see it Avenir is just the unofficial GC championship for riders below a certain age, which makes it quite a unique and cool race.

 

[ciranda]

Speaking of Uno-X riders, both Charmig and Hindsgaul are pros, though Hellemose will probably lead the Danish team, but he is of course a WT rider now. Ukraine is bringing Ponomar.

In addition also Novikov, Vacek and Leemreize, think that's everyone covered (Charmig is too old). My main issue is that the level is higher with these guys there and so it gets harder for those with different starting points and opportunities, like the riders from the Ukrainian, Japanese, Slovakian, UCI etc etc teams, to show something.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

In addition also Novikov, Vacek and Leemreize, think that's everyone covered (Charmig is too old). My main issue is that the level is higher with these guys there and so it gets harder for those with different starting points and opportunities, like the riders from the Ukrainian, Japanese, Slovakian, UCI etc etc teams, to show something.

Yeah, I don't know why I was thinking of Charmig, cause I know he's currently doing the Tour of Denmark.

Daan Hoole is in a similar situation as Hellemose of having already joined Trek. I don't know how strict the rules should be, cause on one hand I'd like the race to be for riders who still needs to prove themselves, but on the other hand it devalues the results, if too many of the best riders are not present.

Maybe a rule about riders not being allowed to race U23 races after they had made their debut in a WT race could make sense.
It wouldn't disqualify everyone, and it would of course have been easy for UAE not to bring Ayuso to San Sebastian, but at least Zana, Ponomar, Romo, Novikov, Rodriguez and Ardila (there could be a few more) would all be out.