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U23 races and talents

Page 48 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
So, they just went "Oh, *** this!" and had the German, Luxembourgish, and Swiss national road races as one big race?

2021 CN GER/LUX/SUI RR-U23 (firstcycling.com)
They are doing it since 2018. It's because it's increasingly difficult to find places that want to host those races, especially in Germany. It's a real problem. So they've started to hold them together and are rotating each year with which country is hosting. Last year Covid cancelled the plans and this year the Swiss were not able to organize, so Sachsenring stepped in.

There's actually history to this too. Back in the 90s these three countries did the same until, I think, '94.

To the race: A strong front group got away and was never seen again. Heiduk is having a really good season, he could be WT next year I'd say. Hessmann is just immensely strong but hasn't got the sprint to beat Heiduk here. Geßner coming in 3rd is a nice result for him here as the Sachsenring doesn't really suit his characteristics at all. But the way it was ridden, flat out elimination race, probably helped him.
 
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Yes and No. It was hard enough to blow up the U23 field here. But it also took a bit of wind today for that and the agressive racing of a front group that contained 3-4 of the strongest riders in the race.

Usually the Sachsenring, while being pretty hilly, is not hard enough to blow up complete Pro Pelotons. Last years German champs are a good example as Bora tried to blow that race apart with Kämna but they couldn't get a substantial gap. It's too rolling and the hills are not hard enough to break the rythm and shake sprinters who can survive some hills.
 
First U23 Nations Cup race from tomorrow: Orlen Nations Grand Prix.

Startlist over at Firstcycling: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=10674&y=2021&k=8

Two stages, both most likely ending in sprints. 2nd stage could go to a group if raced very hard. Should be a nice big showdown between some of the fastest young guys around though. Van Den Berg, Pajur/Ärm, Heiduk, Colnaghi/Coati, Gudmestad, Syritsa/Smirnov etc.
 
"About 60 kilometers from the finish, Uijtdebroeks had started his big race
to catch up at the front of the field and in the mountainous part of the race
first made up the 2:30 minutes behind the breakaway and then 30 kilometers from
the finish with teammate Lührs his last companion at the front suspended.
As a result, the young Belgian continued to expand his lead and in the end was
able to walk over the finish line with a lead of just under five minutes and
lift his bike into the air to cheer, in the style of the Belgian cross specialists."
(...)


Uijtdebroeks:
"The win here is even nicer than the one in the Czech Republic.
I've had this race in my mind since the beginning of the season, as there
are only a few real hill climbs for us juniors."
(...)

I want to become a cyclist for the general classement. That's my dream."


 
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"About 60 kilometers from the finish, Uijtdebroeks had started his big race
to catch up at the front of the field and in the mountainous part of the race
first made up the 2:30 minutes behind the breakaway and then 30 kilometers from
the finish with teammate Lührs his last companion at the front suspended.
As a result, the young Belgian continued to expand his lead and in the end was
able to walk over the finish line with a lead of just under five minutes and
lift his bike into the air to cheer, in the style of the Belgian cross specialists."
(...)


Uijtdebroeks:
"The win here is even nicer than the one in the Czech Republic.
I've had this race in my mind since the beginning of the season, as there
are only a few real hill climbs for us juniors."
(...)

I want to become a cyclist for the general classement. That's my dream."



You know, we have a thread for the juniors right over here:

Junior racing - The stars of the future | Cyclingnews Forum
 
Both the Baby Giro and the Peace Race U23 are starting tomorrow for all you U23 racing connoisseurs.

Here is a Baby Giro preview by U23 Cycling Zone

No real preview for Course de la Paix but look out for a strong czech team, Idar Andersen, Raul Garcia, Florian Lipowitz, Jakob Gessner, Tobias Lund Andresen, Diogo Barbosa, Paul Lapeira, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Lars Boven, Pippo Zana, Jonathan Bögli, Savva Novikov and Kristijan Hocevar.

Should be some good racing at both races.
 
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Right, so... this might be a stupid question...
Regarding EOLO-Kometa; do they have a special U23 sub-division, or is it actually the ProTeam that's on the startlist, and they're just basically being told to not send Gavazzi (or any of the other riders who're too old) to the race... coz that would be weird?
 
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Both the Baby Giro and the Peace Race U23 are starting tomorrow for all you U23 racing connoisseurs.

Here is a Baby Giro preview by U23 Cycling Zone

No real preview for Course de la Paix but look out for a strong czech team, Idar Andersen, Raul Garcia, Florian Lipowitz, Jakob Gessner, Tobias Lund Andresen, Diogo Barbosa, Paul Lapeira, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Lars Boven, Pippo Zana, Jonathan Bögli, Savva Novikov and Kristijan Hocevar.

Should be some good racing at both races.
For the gc it's probably Ayuso vs Vandenabeele vs the Trinity boys.
For the Italians Frigo and Zambanini should be some of the best bets for the gc and I'm curious to see Milesi in the ITT.
 
For the gc it's probably Ayuso vs Vandenabeele vs the Trinity boys.
For the Italians Frigo and Zambanini should be some of the best bets for the gc and I'm curious to see Milesi in the ITT.
The Uno-X trio, Charmig + Johannessens, could well be the strongest climbing team in the race I think. And Hellemose is also targeting the Podium and specifically prepared for this.
I'm also really looking forward to see Zambanini here, with Frigo I'm not sure he has what it takes to do a good GC tbh.

And who knows in what shape the colombians arrive. From 2019 masterclass to last years disaster, everything is possible. But they should play a role.
 
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The Uno-X trio, Charmig + Johannessens, could well be the strongest climbing team in the race I think. And Hellemose is also targeting the Podium and specifically prepared for this.
I'm also really looking forward to see Zambanini here, with Frigo I'm not sure he has what it takes to do a good GC tbh.

And who knows in what shape the colombians arrive. From 2019 masterclass to last years disaster, everything is possible. But they should play a role.
If Pira has his Vuelta a Colombia legs he should be one of the strongest in the high mountains.
I expect the Russians to also be a factor, they always seem to have at least 1 great gc rider in the u23 ranks.
Hellemose is a great talent, it wouldn't surprise me to see him on the podium.
Simone Raccani is one of the not so well known Italian climbers, in 2019 he won the Schio - Ossario del Pasubio race that finishes on a big climb over 1min ahead of Mathias Vacek by riding everyone off his wheel on the final climb.

A shame that we won't have the Australians here once again because of the Covid restrictions, they were alway a great addition to the race and had great talents.
 
If Pira has his Vuelta a Colombia legs he should be one of the strongest in the high mountains.
I expect the Russians to also be a factor, they always seem to have at least 1 great gc rider in the u23 ranks.
Hellemose is a great talent, it wouldn't surprise me to see him on the podium.
Simone Raccani is one of the not so well known Italian climbers, in 2019 he won the Schio - Ossario del Pasubio race that finishes on a big climb over 1min ahead of Mathias Vacek by riding everyone off his wheel on the final climb.

A shame that we won't have the Australians here once again because of the Covid restrictions, they were alway a great addition to the race and had great talents.

The Australian cycling authorities stopped their funding of an under 23 team which usually spends 6 months in Europe each year - The best they can do is to have a smattering of riders who are in development teams or conti teams and throw them together at the last minute - Track cycling takes all the money in Australia.
 
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The Australian cycling authorities stopped their funding of an under 23 team which usually spends 6 months in Europe each year - The best they can do is to have a smattering of riders who are in development teams or conti teams and throw them together at the last minute - Track cycling takes all the money in Australia.
That sucks. In Italy we're seeing that it's often the guys who work with the track coaches of the national team who become good pros. Most of the Colpack guys who made it like Ganna and Consonni are track guys, those coaches seem to be more modern and less conservative in their approach. Someone like Tiberi had a coach from the national team assinged to him when he was still a junior and Ayuso is a monster talent and is getting coached already by UAE, so you can't really give Colpack too much credit for those 2 either.
 
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Course de la Paix U23:

  1. Soren Waerenskjold
  2. Alex Vogel
  3. Kévin Vauquelin

Waerenskjold demolished that prologue. With Andersen also going great the Norwegians could dictate the race here. The French were very strong and they will love the lumpy terrain here in contrast to Orlens last week. Dutch also strong overall team performance. Lipowitz only losing 17sec in a prologue bodes well for his legs too.
 
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I was wondering why Ramses Debruyne wasn't featuring in either Baby Giro or Course de la Paix U23. He's a climber/GC guy, so i'd have expected him there. Turns out he's been suffering with a knee injury for a while.

Course de la Paix U23:

  1. Soren Waerenskjold
  2. Alex Vogel
  3. Kévin Vauquelin
Waerenskjold demolished that prologue. With Andersen also going great the Norwegians could dictate the race here. The French were very strong and they will love the lumpy terrain here in contrast to Orlens last week. Dutch also strong overall team performance. Lipowitz only losing 17sec in a prologue bodes well for his legs too.
It's easy to overlook guys in this category, with guys like Ponomar, Brenner, Simmons, Van Wilder, Evenepoel and even Pogacar... all still being within the age bracket of U23 races.
 
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