U23 races and talents

[Zinoviev Letter]

Interesting round up of the top espoirs who will be pros next season. At a glance I think that only Riabushenko and Philipsen are obviously missing from the article.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/10-neo-pros-to-watch-in-2018/

 

[SafeBet]

Padun also missing, it seems.

 

[fauniera]

Talk about Anglocentric.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Talk about Anglocentric.

There's one English (or British) rider on the list and there are two in the honourable mentions. Or are you doing the traditional stupid forum thing of collapsing all English speaking countries together?

 

[RedheadDane]

I dunno... I'd probably have included Bjerg somewhere in this list... I mean, smashing the U23 ITT, and beating several seasoned pros at the Chrono des Nations, both at the age of 18 gotta count for something...

 

[JoeD1997]

While I know by the letter of the law, if Hagens Berman-Axeon get approved at PCT level then all their riders will technically be classed as going pro, I struggle to think of the likes of Philipsen, Bjerg, Almeida, Barta, Costa and Co. as neo-pros. I think their calendar will remain mostly the same as always: U.S races, a few in Europe and then the riders racing a lot in Nations Cup and other U23 events. The team really has made it quite clear they are going PCT so they can still race in Tour of California, although maybe they try to do a few other WT races, Turkey would be a good testing ground for the youngsters and they perhaps apply for some other HC races like Algarve to replace Alentejo, which they usually race to start their season. Regardless of how you view their riders, the fact that the team isn't confirmed at PCT level (although a denial seems unlikely) is probably the reason the likes of Bjerg and Philipsen are off this list, as they aren't confirmed as being pros yet.

A q I have is this: will all riders be required on Hagens Berman-Axeon to sign two-year neo-pro deals, or will they still be able to operate on a "one and done" scheme like Narvaez this season, that is have a good season, attract attention, then jump up to WT? Would this only apply to their new signing like Philipsen, or also to existing guys like Barta or Costa? Or will the big teams need to wait until 2019 to get their hands on the Axeon riders?

 

[Netserk]

Talk about Anglocentric.

There's one English (or British) rider on the list and there are two in the honourable mentions. Or are you doing the traditional stupid forum thing of collapsing all English speaking countries together?

"It [Anglo] is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in the Americas, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia."

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Talk about Anglocentric.

There's one English (or British) rider on the list and there are two in the honourable mentions. Or are you doing the traditional stupid forum thing of collapsing all English speaking countries together?

"It [Anglo] is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in the Americas, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia."

Yes, it's sometimes used in that sense on this forum more often than most other places. That's why I was asking. Although I do take back the "stupid" part of the question, given that the main CN news pages do on average cover riders from anglophone countries more than other riders.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

While I know by the letter of the law, if Hagens Berman-Axeon get approved at PCT level then all their riders will technically be classed as going pro, I struggle to think of the likes of Philipsen, Bjerg, Almeida, Barta, Costa and Co. as neo-pros. I think their calendar will remain mostly the same as always: U.S races, a few in Europe and then the riders racing a lot in Nations Cup and other U23 events. The team really has made it quite clear they are going PCT so they can still race in Tour of California, although maybe they try to do a few other WT races, Turkey would be a good testing ground for the youngsters and they perhaps apply for some other HC races like Algarve to replace Alentejo, which they usually race to start their season. Regardless of how you view their riders, the fact that the team isn't confirmed at PCT level (although a denial seems unlikely) is probably the reason the likes of Bjerg and Philipsen are off this list, as they aren't confirmed as being pros yet.

A q I have is this: will all riders be required on Hagens Berman-Axeon to sign two-year neo-pro deals, or will they still be able to operate on a "one and done" scheme like Narvaez this season, that is have a good season, attract attention, then jump up to WT? Would this only apply to their new signing like Philipsen, or also to existing guys like Barta or Costa? Or will the big teams need to wait until 2019 to get their hands on the Axeon riders?

Particularly with Axeon turning PCT, this looks like a real bumper year for espoirs turning pro. Really just about every 20-21 year old who has made a notable mark seems to have been signed. I suppose there's less reason to stick around for an extra year or two as an espoir now that pros can race major espoir races anyway.

It will be interesting to look back at the riders named in this piece, plus Riabushenko, Philipsen, Padun and Bjerg in three years time and see where they are as a cohort.

 

[RedheadDane]

I thought Anglophone simply referred to someone who speaks English as their first language...

As for Axeon, I suppose if they're pretty certain they'll get PCT status, then they'll have made their contracts according to the PCT rules.
However, I thought the rule that a neo-pro contract must be at least two years was for the rider's sake. So he wouldn't have to spend his first year as a pro fighting to get a contract, and so that really nasty teams (hopefully none exists...) wouldn't sign some young guy, work him like crazy, and then when he - obviously - didn't gather any points for the team himself, just drop in out in the cold.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

I thought Anglophone simply referred to someone who speaks English as their first language...

As for Axeon, I suppose if they're pretty certain they'll get PCT status, then they'll have made their contracts according to the PCT rules.
However, I thought the rule that a neo-pro contract must be at least two years was for the rider's sake. So he wouldn't have to spend his first year as a pro fighting to get a contract, and so that really nasty teams (hopefully none exists...) wouldn't sign some young guy, work him like crazy, and then when he - obviously - didn't gather any points for the team himself, just drop in out in the cold.

I tought that aswell, but Jon Ander insausti left after a year, I guess that's possible if both team and rider agree they want to part?

 

[RedheadDane]

I guess if the rider realises that "Oh... ***! I'm not ready for WT yet! I just... pheeeee..." it would make sense for the rider to be allowed to take a few steps back and get his career back on track, rather than being stuck on WT level and getting completely burn-out.
Of course I don't know the reason for why Insausti left.

 

[ciranda]

Eight of the riders on that list represented super rich u23 teams able to compete in all the mountain races. Exactly the same picture seen all year in the biggest races like Avenir, Aosta, the other French stage races and the Giro Baby where these teams have occupied eight or even nine of the first ten places in the overall.

Results lead to contracts. The guys mentioned have results but they also had the very best conditions (not only from this year) to achieve with the best opportunities re coaching, equipment and race program. These things cost money and the richest happen to be the australian, british and american u23 teams (arguably also BMC and Lotto teams but they don’t have to travel from half away across the world).

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Which "rich" british U23 team are you talking about? Wiggins? They barely raced in the second half of 2017 due to (rumoured) financial problems.

 

[ciranda]

I don't know. I looked at past results and see that whether for a trade team or the national team riders like Knox, Davies and Lawless have competed in the best races in France, Italy, Portugal etc every year since they turned u23.

 

[fauniera]

The final stage of the 2018 Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux will end at Beau Site.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Those who frequent this thread and have a particular interest in riders early in their careers really ought to be well placed to make a good entry in the Emerging Riders Game.

 

[JoeD1997]

A lot of U23s (although only Polartec-Kometa from the bigger U23 teams) are racing on the 22nd at the Tour of Antalya stage race in Turkey (UCI 2.2).

Leopard: Gessner, Quarterman, Wirtgen
Tirol: Brkic, Dobbs, Zimmermann
Polartec: Sevilla, Habtom, Camacho, Canton, Gamper, Gazzoli, Pena
Eritrea: Habtemichael and Mebrahtom (both won a stage at the Tour de l'Espoir a few weeks ago)
Nice Devo Team: Colombian Johan Sebastian Jaimes Mendoza (he has no records on PCS, anyone know anything about him?)
Other riders: Salim Kipkemboi (4th overall and stage win Sharjah Tour) + Suleiman Kangani (BikeAid), Nikita Sokolov + Alexey Voloshin (Vino-Astana), Yuriy Natarov + Galym Akhmetov - 2nd/3rd in Capodarco last season (Astana City)

The race itself looks pretty hilly on profile. Not sure how to attach images so I've linked the race website which has some info on the stages here: http://tourofantalya.com/tr/etaplar

There is a 32.5km ITT, with 20KM flat then the last 12.5km up a cat two climb that leads onto a cat 1 climb to the finish.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

That's a brutal time trial.

13,3k @ 7,7% after 20 k of mostly flat ITT. Why isn't something like this in a GC?!

 

[CarlosFandangoJnr]

Baby Giro route announced today! One for the climbers, definitely, including the Passo Monte Grappa, a strade bianche summit finish and a Hammer Series type time trial (where the top 20 on GC start according to their GC time gap at the start of the stage).

Best race of the year imo, across pro, amateur or whatever.

 

[DNP-Old]

Prologue – Forlì, 4.7km. A pan-flat aperitif to the race round the beautiful Emilia-Romagna town of Forli. The town square will be a perfect setting for the ceremonial start of the week’s racing.

St 1 – Riccione to Forli, 137.7km. A largely flat stage from Riccione, near the Adriatic coast, back up to the location of the previous day’s prologue, with two third category climbs in the last 40km. The sprinters should decide the day’s result if the nervous bunch avoids a repeat of 2017’s crash-hit first stage. Stage 3 of the 2017 race ended in Forli (image below) where Pavel Sivakov took the pink jersey.

St 2 – Nonantola to Sestola, 128.3km. An early rendez-vous for the GC contenders as the race heads towards the ski-station at Sestola. At only 1020m, however, the finish isn’t particularly severe, but it comes after a category 2 and 3 climb stacked up in the final 50km. If the sprinters enjoyed stage one, expect the maglia rosa to change hands tonight.

St 3 – Rio Saliceto to Azzano San Paolo/Orio al Serio, 160.8km. A mixed day out for tired legs after the summit finish and long transfer, Stage 3 is a the longest of the race at just over 160km, but is a totally flat transitional stage heading back north towards the furthest outskirts of Milan. A sprinter’s day.

St 4 – Mornico al Serio to Passo Maniva, 127.9km. A “medium” mountain stage with a summit finish at Passo Maniva, today’s route will give some shape to the GC that will last for the rest of the week. The finish is at 1744m above sea level, and the route features a crossing of the Tre Termini pass (701m asl) 60km from the line.

St 5 – Darfo Boario Terme – Folgarida 125.6km. Mountains and dirt roads. A third category climb will quicken the pulse before the road turns up to the Passo del Tonale (1883m asl), which comes 38km from the line. The riders will enjoy a descent to Dimaro before climbing as high again, this time up a strade bianche, to the finish at Folgarida (1854m).

St 6 – Dimaro to Pergine Valsugana, 121.7km. Two category 3 climbs don’t look too bad on paper, but a week into the race it would be easy to have a bad day. The organisers describe this as a ‘nervous’ stage where the two climbs come in the last 50km. A day for a breakaway to succeed.

St 7 – Schio to Pian Delle Fugazze, 135.4km. The three hills of the day count down from category 3 to 1, with the third being the climb to the finish at Pian Delle Fugazze. Don’t think about tomorrow though, as there’s worse to come…

St 8 – Levico Terme to Asiago, 152km. The riders will have over 1000km in their legs by the time they hit the Hors Categorie climb in the middle of the stage. The 24km monster to Monte Grappa is a modest 5.3% average gradient, but the word “average” bears a lot of weight here as there are several plateaux and descents mid-climb. The final 90km of today’s stage could be very similar to stage 20 of the 2017 Giro d’Italia, which also crossed the Monte Grappa and finished in Asiago.

St 9a – Conegliano Veneto – Valdobbiadene, 75.6km. Nothing to look forward to here other than a day of split stage hell to end the 9 days of racing. The category 3 and 2 climbs will be hated by everyone other than the stage winner!

St 9b – ITT – Ca’ del Poggio, 21km. Walking the tightrope of brilliance and insanity, the race is to apply for permission to start the final 20 GC riders at intervals equal to their GC standing. The route for the 21km uphill time trial features two stretches where the slope hits 10-12% (Manzana and Confin) and the last 800 meters that reach 18% on the Wall of Ca ‘del Poggio, the symbolic climb of the Prosecco Hills.

Brutal!

 

[Samamba]

Awesome, but maybe a bit too brutal for a u23 race ?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

So after the Dauphiné had better mountain stages than the Tour last year, the same holds true for the Babygiro and the freaking Giro itself this year.

That's... both impressive and depressing.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

A lot of U23s (although only Polartec-Kometa from the bigger U23 teams) are racing on the 22nd at the Tour of Antalya stage race in Turkey (UCI 2.2).

Leopard: Gessner, Quarterman, Wirtgen
Tirol: Brkic, Dobbs, Zimmermann
Polartec: Sevilla, Habtom, Camacho, Canton, Gamper, Gazzoli, Pena
Eritrea: Habtemichael and Mebrahtom (both won a stage at the Tour de l'Espoir a few weeks ago)
Nice Devo Team: Colombian Johan Sebastian Jaimes Mendoza (he has no records on PCS, anyone know anything about him?)
Other riders: Salim Kipkemboi (4th overall and stage win Sharjah Tour) + Suleiman Kangani (BikeAid), Nikita Sokolov + Alexey Voloshin (Vino-Astana), Yuriy Natarov + Galym Akhmetov - 2nd/3rd in Capodarco last season (Astana City)

The race itself looks pretty hilly on profile. Not sure how to attach images so I've linked the race website which has some info on the stages here: http://tourofantalya.com/tr/etaplar

There is a 32.5km ITT, with 20KM flat then the last 12.5km up a cat two climb that leads onto a cat 1 climb to the finish.

One question:
What the *** is a Danish (national) team doing there?

 

[JosephD]

Re: Re:

A lot of U23s (although only Polartec-Kometa from the bigger U23 teams) are racing on the 22nd at the Tour of Antalya stage race in Turkey (UCI 2.2).

Leopard: Gessner, Quarterman, Wirtgen
Tirol: Brkic, Dobbs, Zimmermann
Polartec: Sevilla, Habtom, Camacho, Canton, Gamper, Gazzoli, Pena
Eritrea: Habtemichael and Mebrahtom (both won a stage at the Tour de l'Espoir a few weeks ago)
Nice Devo Team: Colombian Johan Sebastian Jaimes Mendoza (he has no records on PCS, anyone know anything about him?)
Other riders: Salim Kipkemboi (4th overall and stage win Sharjah Tour) + Suleiman Kangani (BikeAid), Nikita Sokolov + Alexey Voloshin (Vino-Astana), Yuriy Natarov + Galym Akhmetov - 2nd/3rd in Capodarco last season (Astana City)

The race itself looks pretty hilly on profile. Not sure how to attach images so I've linked the race website which has some info on the stages here: http://tourofantalya.com/tr/etaplar

There is a 32.5km ITT, with 20KM flat then the last 12.5km up a cat two climb that leads onto a cat 1 climb to the finish.

One question:
What the **** is a Danish (national) team doing there?

Who knows, I didn't recognise any of the names on their roster though.

Meanwhile in stage one, Polartec-Kometa's Italian U23 RR champ Matteo Moschetti beats Jakub Mareczko and Leopard's U23 sprinter Konrad Gessner to take the win in what looked like a relatively small bunch sprint.

Image here is from the Polartec-Kometa Twitter account of the sprint: https://mobile.twitter.com/PolartecKometa/status/966645739525951488/photo/1