I'm not sure the WE junior races will gather a lot of posts, or at least not during the races, due to the fact that they're taking place quite early on weekdays, but to make sure those posts don't get hidden in-between comments about other races, and to avoid that people get the results spoiled, they're now getting their own thread.
First up is the time trial tomorrow morning (the first rider will start at 8:30 AM). An 18.8 km flat course will take the riders from the Sechseläutenplatz and around a fourth of the way down the eastern side of the Zürichsee and back again.
Let's meet the contestants, or some of them at least:
Cat Ferguson, Great Britain
One of the most dominating juniors over the past two seasons, across both road, track and CX, Ferguson has proved herself to be a big prospect for the future, and it's no wonder Movistar already signed her up when she was 17. As her first elite races have shown, she already has the level to compete for wins against older and more experienced riders. A talented time trialist, too, she won the only longer ITT in the Jr. Nations Cup at the Omloop Borsele in May. Just this past weekend. she won her first senior win at the Tour de la Semois in Belgium, before she became unwell ahead of the next stage. Time will tell if she's fully recovered from that.
Célia Gery, France
The other member of the double act Cat and Célia (or Tom and Gery, if you will), is yet another big French talent. She can push Ferguson to the limits on her best days, which her wins at this year's junior CX WC and De Ronde can confirm. She lost that aforementioned Borsele ITT by less than 3 seconds, so she can also defend herself well against the clock. We've not yet seen her compete against the pros, and we'll have to wait to see that until she ride for FDJ next year (it will probably happen sooner in CX).
Fee Knaven, The Netherlands
Possibly the most talented among the four Knaven sisters, Fee was very unlucky to miss out on the victory at the European Championships last weekend, when got stuck behind another ride during some corners close to the finish and subsequently lost by only a second. As a TT specialist, she's perhaps not going to feature much in the road race, but she has a chance of winning a medal here.
Lucy Bénézet Minns, Republic of Ireland
Like Knaven, Bénézet Minns has also had her best results in time trials. Last year she finished 4th in Glasgow, and only Gery beat her in the 6 km time trial at the Watersley Challenge three weeks ago. On top of that, she's also the current European champion in the points race on the track.
Paula Ostiz, Spain
The hottest prospect among the first year juniors, Ostiz is now starting to get huge international results as well. While she was both lucky to win the European title ahead of Knaven and the Watersley Challenge because Gery crashed out, she still had to beat everyone else to get those victories. It looks like Movistar have made a great signing here.
Viktória Chladoňová, Slovakia
The current World XCO champion in MTB and bronze medalist at the CX Worlds behind Gery and Ferguson is also pretty talented on a road bike. With her victory in the Respect Ladies Race in Slovakia in July, she also became the first of the current juniors to win a UCI race, and already a couple of weeks earlier, she was fastest rider in the road race at the Czech/Slovak Championships, but she couldn't win the elite title as a junior. However Nora Jenčušová was aware of that, so I'm not sure she gave her all in the race. Chladoňová will be riding for Visma next year.
Imogen Wolff, Great Britain
While the French juniors had the most depth in 2023, the Brits have taken over that role this year. Imogen Wolff, already contracted to Visma, has had a fine season with a victory in Trofeo Binda as the highlight on the road as well as having won two WC titles on the track. She beat Ferguson in the ITT at the British Championships in June, but we haven't yet seen her ride a longer time trial against any of her other competitors she'll be facing here.
Other riders to watch: Kamilla Aasebø of Norway, Megan Arens of the Netherlands and Amandine Muller of France (there are more possibilities, but I can't just list everyone)
Start list and live timing (provided there isn't a sudden power outage in Zürich): https://www.tissottiming.com/2024/crdwch/event-12/phase-1/startlist
First up is the time trial tomorrow morning (the first rider will start at 8:30 AM). An 18.8 km flat course will take the riders from the Sechseläutenplatz and around a fourth of the way down the eastern side of the Zürichsee and back again.
Let's meet the contestants, or some of them at least:
Cat Ferguson, Great Britain
One of the most dominating juniors over the past two seasons, across both road, track and CX, Ferguson has proved herself to be a big prospect for the future, and it's no wonder Movistar already signed her up when she was 17. As her first elite races have shown, she already has the level to compete for wins against older and more experienced riders. A talented time trialist, too, she won the only longer ITT in the Jr. Nations Cup at the Omloop Borsele in May. Just this past weekend. she won her first senior win at the Tour de la Semois in Belgium, before she became unwell ahead of the next stage. Time will tell if she's fully recovered from that.
Célia Gery, France
The other member of the double act Cat and Célia (or Tom and Gery, if you will), is yet another big French talent. She can push Ferguson to the limits on her best days, which her wins at this year's junior CX WC and De Ronde can confirm. She lost that aforementioned Borsele ITT by less than 3 seconds, so she can also defend herself well against the clock. We've not yet seen her compete against the pros, and we'll have to wait to see that until she ride for FDJ next year (it will probably happen sooner in CX).
Fee Knaven, The Netherlands
Possibly the most talented among the four Knaven sisters, Fee was very unlucky to miss out on the victory at the European Championships last weekend, when got stuck behind another ride during some corners close to the finish and subsequently lost by only a second. As a TT specialist, she's perhaps not going to feature much in the road race, but she has a chance of winning a medal here.
Lucy Bénézet Minns, Republic of Ireland
Like Knaven, Bénézet Minns has also had her best results in time trials. Last year she finished 4th in Glasgow, and only Gery beat her in the 6 km time trial at the Watersley Challenge three weeks ago. On top of that, she's also the current European champion in the points race on the track.
Paula Ostiz, Spain
The hottest prospect among the first year juniors, Ostiz is now starting to get huge international results as well. While she was both lucky to win the European title ahead of Knaven and the Watersley Challenge because Gery crashed out, she still had to beat everyone else to get those victories. It looks like Movistar have made a great signing here.
Viktória Chladoňová, Slovakia
The current World XCO champion in MTB and bronze medalist at the CX Worlds behind Gery and Ferguson is also pretty talented on a road bike. With her victory in the Respect Ladies Race in Slovakia in July, she also became the first of the current juniors to win a UCI race, and already a couple of weeks earlier, she was fastest rider in the road race at the Czech/Slovak Championships, but she couldn't win the elite title as a junior. However Nora Jenčušová was aware of that, so I'm not sure she gave her all in the race. Chladoňová will be riding for Visma next year.
Imogen Wolff, Great Britain
While the French juniors had the most depth in 2023, the Brits have taken over that role this year. Imogen Wolff, already contracted to Visma, has had a fine season with a victory in Trofeo Binda as the highlight on the road as well as having won two WC titles on the track. She beat Ferguson in the ITT at the British Championships in June, but we haven't yet seen her ride a longer time trial against any of her other competitors she'll be facing here.
Other riders to watch: Kamilla Aasebø of Norway, Megan Arens of the Netherlands and Amandine Muller of France (there are more possibilities, but I can't just list everyone)
Start list and live timing (provided there isn't a sudden power outage in Zürich): https://www.tissottiming.com/2024/crdwch/event-12/phase-1/startlist
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