On a stage that was set for fireworks, the riders lit the fuse and the Zavod Miru U23 exploded on the Dlouhe Strane climb. With Adrien Costa sidelined and other riders not firing on all cylinders, it was a diminutive Frenchman that took the race by the neck and took the biggest win of his fledgling career.
A breakaway of about 10 riders got away early in the race but were never given much of a gap by the peloton, with the Germans and Slovenians setting a strong tempo all day as they had missed the move. This group lasted for over half of the stage but was taken back by the first climb to Hrabesice, where Casper Pedersen took the KOM.
Onto the Dlouhe Strane, the peloton had come back together into a fairly large group but that was to be short lived. From here, I will get many of the details from James Knox, who was in the heat of the action on the climb.
The French took it at the bottom of the climb and then the Russian (Cherkasov or Nych) took a big turn on the front. The group was brought down to 16 riders but names such as Lennard Kämna and Lennard Hofstede were nowhere to be seen. Attacks began to happen and whittled the group down until an attack from Swiss Kilian Frankiny made a group of four including him, Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB), Edward Ravasi (Italy) and David Gaudu (France). Knox said, "I was stuck in between(the two groups) for a bit, before sitting on a group, who never committed to bringing them back."
After the leading group exchanged barbs, it was the tiny Gaudu, who weighs probably no more than 55 kilograms, who launched the winning attack with 500 meters to go as the climb leveled off near the reservoir at the top of Dlouhe Strane. It seemed as if Geoghegan Hart could have gone with him but the Hackney rider admittedly hesitated and that made the difference.
Gaudu took out 7 seconds from Geoghegan Hart plus another from Frankiny and Ravasi. Behind, Knox got a little frisky, "I hit my group after a couple of attacks and was in between the (two) groups (at the finish)." Knox finished 5th, 14 seconds back ahead of a group containing Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic), Giovanni Carboni (Italy), Aurelien Paret-Peintre (France), Bjorg Lambrecht and Steff Cras (both Belgium).
Gaudu took 10 bonus seconds at the finish to move his overall lead on Geoghegan Hart to 11 seconds, which will make the task tomorrow of overhauling him on the fairly short finishing climb quite big.
Gaudu didn't come here as an unknown exactly and it remains to be seen if he can finish this race off. What can be taken away now is his acceleration. Knox can to attest to it from l'Isard, "He seemed to be able to accelerate again and again and destroyed our group on the bottom of Ax 3 Domaines." He attacked the group multiple times today and finally made on stick. Like speed, acceleration isn't something that one can simply teach. It can be improved but a natural acceleration is not something everyone is blessed with.
The race finishes up tomorrow with a climb to the Hotel Priesnitz in Jesenik.
How about that wordplay? Right? Guys...guys? In any case, stage one of the Zavod Miru U23 Nations Cup lived up to its expectations with an early breakaway taking up the first half of the race followed by another more successful breakaway that was swallowed up by the peloton within the final kilometer.
The original breakaway was a 4-man move than consisted of Justin Oien (USA), Sven Reutter (Germany), Ole Forfang (Norway) and Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile/UCI Cycling Centre). There gap didn't get too big and were swallowed up in quick succession.
The main move of the day came from Pascal Eenkhoorn (BMC Development/Netherlands), who escaped with about 50 kilometers to go and got a substantial gap. The bunch was in efficiency mode with many not wanting to exert themselves too much with the mountains looming. A variety of teams came to the fore to bring it back but on the final lap, the gap began to plummet. Within the final kilometer, Eenkhoorn was taken back but his team was still in a good position.
Out of the final right hand bend, first year U23 Bob Olieslagers (Netherlands) led out the sprint and looked to be in a good position to win until the dying meters when Daniel Auer (Austria) came out of the slipstream to power ahead in the final meters to take the victory. Polish rider Michal Paluta came in a close 3rd while Oli Wood (Great Britain) was 4th and El Medhi Chokri (Morocco/UCI Cycling Centre) came in 5th.
One of these years I am hoping that the Zavod Miru (Peace Race in English) will emerge as a longer stage race that will be the spring cornerstone to the U23 calendar. I also know that the chances of it being expanded from its current iteration are approximately .0034893744%. In any case, this is always an interesting race as it doesnt necessarily have the toughest climbs but it can catch riders out regularly and result in some exciting finishes.
The race was only revived in 2013 as a U23 race. The first edition was won by Cannondale's Toms Skujins and two years later, it was moved to the U23 Nations Cup. Still just three stages, the race is based around the spa town of Jesenik, Czech Republic, which is nuzzled against the Southern Polish border. One of the main differences this year is that the race will forgo the summit finish at the Praded nature reserve but race manager Jan Svorada is keeping the difficulty level high with two hill top finishes.
Stages
Stage 1 - Jeseník to Rymarov - 134km
In what is a carbon copy to the opening stage in the past few years, this year's edition of stage 1 gets a little extra distance (122km to 134km) as an additional finish loop was added on. The last couple of additions have been decided by small breakaways that have eeked out victories ahead of hard charging pelotons. In 2013, this was a two-up sprint with Pole Przemyslaw Kasperviewicz (now Klein Constantia) beating Tom Bosmans while last year, Gabriel Cullaigh (GB National Team) won out of an all-day breakaway.
The town flag of Rymarov is interesting
The change to this year's course could actually see a mass-group sprint as it might give teams a little more time to organize on the finishing circuits. Or it could once again see teams focused on GC fine with letting a small group without any GC favorites getting away to take the pressure off of any serious chase efforts. The circuit itself is not pan-flat and does include a climb but in year's past, the group has not thinned out much. There is a dearth of full-blown sprinters here but some riders with a good kick on them include Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spain), Dusan Rajovic (Serbia/UCI Cycling), Justin Oien (USA) and Piet Allegaert (Belgium) but no one is jumping off the page as a favorite. This would probably be because the final two stage profiles were drawn by a precocious 2-year old.
Stage 2 - Krnov to Dlouhe Strane - 123 kilometers
While it might not be the longest stage, it will be a kick in the jewels for those that are unprepared. This is a brand new stage that climbs up to the Dlouhe Strane Hydroelectric Power Plant, which sits at 1,350 meters (over 4,400 feet) elevation.
The reservoir at Dlouhe Strane has the largest reserving water turbine in Europe. Also, you cannot beat that view.
The climb itself up to the station is arguably the hardest in all of the Jeseniky mountain range, included the Praded climb which the race has used in the past couple years. The climb itself is a stair step affair that starts up into a forested area once they move through Loucna nad Desnou. The middle section of the climb before the brief descent is where the race will be made as it touches a brief gradient of 20% and the kilometer before the descent averages over 10% but sees persistent ramps near 14%. A brief descent gives the riders a respite but the gradients go back to a steady 7-8% before the finish flattens out a bit. The profile of the climb can be seen here.
It isn't as if the race is a race to this climb as there is a smaller climb at Hraběšice to soften the legs a bit but the slopes of Dlouhe Strane will define the GC of this race.
Favorites? Well I will get to that later because I believe who wins here will most likely win the GC or be damn close.
Stage 3 - Jesenik - Jesenik - 160 km
"It sort of looks like an upside down New Jersey with a little hook at the top"
Above is my quote about this stage from last year. The final stage is a loop that goes out of Jesenik, rides along the Polish border for a while, heads south for a while to Bruntal (which is just north of Rymarov) and then starts up towards Jesenik. It is an exact copy of the final stage last year, which more or less came down to the final uphill to the Hotel Priesnitz from a group of favorites as many were shed from the late climbs at Hvezda and Vidly.
Interesting room décor at the Hotel Preisnitz
The final climb to the Hotel only averages about 6% once the race crosses the Staric river but it really doesn't get going until about 2 km to go. The next kilometer averages 8.1% gradient while the final kilometer flattens out a little bit up to the Hotel. Definitely an Ardennes-style finish but not quite as steep.
No Australia here for the 2nd year in a row which really limits them in terms of the UCI Nations Cup. Also, to stack the deck for the Czechs, they brought two full 6-man teams.
Looking over the start list, here are some favorites in no particular order...
-Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic)
-Steff Cras and Bjorg Lambrecht (Belgium)
-Vincent, Cosnefroy, Peters and Paret-Peintre (France). It won't be an enviable position for team leader Pierre-Yves Chatelon.
-Lennard Kämna (Germany)
-Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB) supported nicely by James Knox and Scott Davies
-Edward Ravasi & Giovanni Carboni (Italy)
-Lennard Hofstede (Netherlands)
-Ildar Arslanov (Russia)
-Domen Novak (Slovenia)
-Enric Mas or Jon Irisarri (Spain)
-Mark Padun (Ukraine)
-Adrien Costa (USA)
Espoirs Central pick for the overall win: Tao Geoghegan Hart
While I spent the majority of the weekend trying to decompress as best as possible, the world of amateur cycling kept on turning. While the U23 Paris-Roubaix was a big gem during the weekend,
racing was abound in the USA, Colombia, Spain, Italy and more. As the Zavod Miru U23 takes place in a few days, I will try to make this the express version.
Basically says everything I want to say right there.
Vuelta a Navarra
In somewhat of an oddity, Ecuadorian Richie Carapaz, who won the U23 Vuelta a Colombia last year, is currently on the UCI roster for the Colombian Strongman Campagnolo while also riding for the Lizarte amateur team out of Spain. I guess you could call it a temporary loan as I'm certain Carapaz will be be back down south once the big summer Colombian races happen but Carapaz has been a scourge on the Spanish amateur scene this spring.
His latest scalp was the Vuelta a Navarra, where he won the 2nd stage uphill finish that guaranteed him the overall victory on Saturday. He now has 5 wins in a month time span and it is very possible to see him continue this trend. After winning Navarra, he was quoted as saying that he would love to cap of his season with a stagiaire ride. One would think that a Spanish team would be very high on him so unless someone else has secret plans for him (perhaps Zona Maxtin and Etixx-OPQS), Movistar or Caja Rural are likely destinations.
Tour de Gironde
Norway has had another strong year so far in the U23 and continental ranks with Team Joker being a main reason behind it. It isn't often that a team has a perfect race but Joker at the Tour de Gironde was about as good as it gets.
Just a few weeks ago, I was questioning if Truls Engen Korsaeth was even riding his bike as he had barely made an impression in the first 5 months of the season. After finding out he was struggling with motivation and injuries, Korsaeth popped up in the 2nd round of the Norwegian Cup, finishing 3rd behind teammate Ole Forang. He then came to the Tour de Gironde and the "brutal" rider, as described by the national team director, lived up to his nature by attacking and holding off the peloton by three seconds, led home by a pair of Joker riders in Kristoffer Halvorsen & Adrain Aas Stien.
The race was made by a herculean effort by Amund Grøndahl Jansen, whose name might be more fitting for someone riding an icebreaker in the Antarctic Sea around 1912 than riding a bike in 2016. Within the first kilometers of the stage, Grøndahl was away with Sebastian Molano but soon ditched the Colombian to take a maximum advantage of over 8 minutes, which was so big that his own team car pulled out and went back to the peloton to monitor the situation. While the gap fell steadily, Grøndahl was able to continue on strong and as the race exploded behind him on the rolling course, the Norwegian was able to take his first individual win of the year. Directvelo talked to Grøndahl after the race but his spring has definitely turned some heads.
The final stage was a sprint fest that saw Aas Stein take his first UCI win in over a year while Norwegians took 3 out of the top 4 places. It was the icing on the cake as Joker wrapped up every jersey and took the overall classification with Grøndahl. Gino Van Oudenhove's ploeg delivered in a big way.
A side note is Mathias Le Turnier, who ended the race in 2nd overall. Le Turnier, for those with bad memories, was 2nd overall in the Ronde de l'Isard and nearly stole the overall classification there. For a rider that is climber, it is surprising that we was contending in the much flatter Bordeaux region. Perhaps a stagiaire role and a l'Avenir place are on the books for this summer?
Everywhere else and more...
-Riders from 1996 were close to taking over the An Post Ras but Australia's Jai Hindley fell to now two-time winner Clemens Fankhauser by a mere three seconds. The '96 were rounded out by Hindley's teammate Lucas Hamilton and home rider Eddie Dunbar (Axeon-Hagens Bermans), who took a stage win into Baltinglass ahead these three riders and Australian Michael Storer. Also of note was Nicolai Brøchner (Riwal), who was a bike throw away from taking three stage wins in the race.
-Abderrahmane Mansouri might not be a household name but the Algerian U23 might be the next Youcef Reguigui in terms of breaking out of the Maghreb and getting results against bigger competition. As I write this, I am fairly confident that I am one of a very, very tiny handful of people in the USA that is thinking about who will be the next big Algerian rider.
-Jose Luis Rodriguez journeyed back to Europe and proceeded to go 2nd in the Thun time trial to Thery Schir, who was 8th in the U23 World TT last year. The Chilean is continuing to put out a string of nice results that should once again see him in the Tour de l'Avenir and hopefully a chance at a top 10 in the Doha Worlds TT. Rodriguez was apart of the World Cycling Centre Team that dominated the recent Souvenir Patrice-Ledru a Tramoyes, where Panamanian Cristofer Jurado won ahead of Moroccan Anass Ait El Abdia, Rodriguez and Serbian first year U23 Dusan Rajovic.
-In the Colpack can do no wrong category, the Bergamo team took more wins in Italy including a humilitation of Zalf. In the Giro del Piave in Zalf's home in Veneto, 4 Zalf riders went up against one Colpack rider and guess who won?
Federico Sartor took a coup against Rocchetti, Gabburo, Rosa and Rocchi on their home soil Photo: ItaliaCiclismo
Zalf did have a win Alto Padovana Tour with Niccolo' Rocchi holding off a speeding Belorussian Uladzimir Harakhavik while Zalf put 7 in the top 10. Not to get to carried away as this was in Veneto and Zalf are more or less commanded to win and put in huge numbers into the races.
In what was the strongest showing of the weekend was the triple Colpack produced at the GP Industria e Commercio in Botticini. The video will show it all but the way the Colpack riders one by one pass Bagioli is heartbreakingly sweet to watch. The winner, Ukranian Mark Padun, is going to be in the Zavod Miru U23 and his form has seemingly been ramping up for a podium finish.
Did I miss anything? Is the next best rider not being mention? Let me know.
I am assuming the on the night before Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, someone on the Colpack team, who is obligated to reach blogs in the Internet-sphere for any mentions like any proper team should do, read my bit about how Colpack have been tearing up the Italian amateur scene and reported to the team over breakfast that an English-speaking person was giving the team high praise. This praise inspired the team to take the the cobbled with a vengeance. As the authority on Italian amateur cycling system in America, I am 100% certain this is how the situation played out.
A long-range breakaway filled with some powerful legs that make housewives quiver was the ultimate decider on a day that was plagued with the rain and general miserable weather that 2015 bestowed. Within 10 kilometers, the main breakaway got away with names such as Filippo Ganna (Colpack), Edward Planckaert (Lotto-Soudal U23), Hamish Schreurs (Klein Constantia), Piet Allegaert (EFC-Etixx) and Justin Oien (Axeon - Hagens Bermans), among others. With the peloton staying together fairly well, the breakaway was given a leash and then slowly but surely, the reins were tugged and the peloton began to make their way back again.
The race was more or less a waiting game for the action to happen and the climax was a slow build. Make that a very slow build. The vice was coming down on the breakaway until Carrefour de l'Arbe, when Jenthe Biermans (SEG Racing) and Jaap de Jong (Chambery CF) were able to make the jump to the breakaway, joining Peter Lederink (Rabobank Development) as the only other rider able to make the junction to the breakaway from behind. Not to mention, this was when the rain was at some of its heaviest with the gutters on the pavé roads flooded with rain. Sivakov, who might have been more at home on a hillier course, was victim to one of many crashes the race saw and was jettisoned out of the breakaway.
Out of the beast of l'Arbe, the breakaway riders were trading probing attacks before it was Ganna who laid down the gauntlet. Ganna attacked and with the time trial abilities that gained him a contract with Lampre for 2017, he pulled away from an indecisive chasing group. My thoughts go to what was passing through Ganna's mind while he rode down the famous streets into the Roubaix velodrome. Was his mind a blank slate of pain as the lactic acid filtered through his body? Or perhaps memories flashed through his mind, especially as he was able to let off the accelerator into the finish? His first rides on a bike, his first rides around his home Lake Maggiore, his big time trial victories...all of that leading up to his biggest win on the road, hundreds of miles away from his homeland. All alone, it was an emotional Filippo Ganna that took the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs.
49 seconds behind, it was Jenthe Biermans taking his 2nd consecutive sprint for 2nd place in Roubaix ahead of Carpathian Couriers Tour winner Hamish Schreurs and Ganna's teammate Oliviera Troia. Biermans might have been very cunning with his move up to the breakaway but he had no answer for Ganna's move. Biermans appears to be a Roubaix specialist in the making, which is a bit of a dying breed with how so many riders seem to be diversifying their portfolios recently.
-Ganna's win here will definitely get the hearts of Italian fans pumping as they have been crying out for a young potential classics star as it has been years since Ballan and Pozzato have been competitive in Northern France. No Italian has ever won this race unless you count quasi-Italian Yaroslav Popovych dominated with his Vellutex team piloted by Oliviano Locatelli. For Colpack, it is just another huge win on their way to a monumental season that they have been cobbling together. For those keeping score at home, some other recent solo wins at Roubaix belong to riders such as Mike Teunissen and Bob Jungels
-The Belgians should just claim this region because the French really do not turn out for this event. Partially, this comes down to scheduling issue as the Tour de la Manche and the Tour du Gironde take place during the same time, which can take precedence for amateur teams. It isn't like the French teams didn't show up as Vendée U was there along with Chambery and a smattering of smaller regional teams but there were just 2 French riders in the top 20 and the highest being in 17th with Damien Touze. You want to have French riders compete on a higher level on the cobbled/classic races? Put more emphasis on them in the U23 ranks. Corentin Ermenault was hurt and Dylan Kowalski was in the breakaway but was this seriously the best that France could put forth?
-Some other riders capping off impressive and very consistent springs? Edward Planckaert (Lotto-Soudal), who has gotten close in the sprints just like his brother Baptiste, showed that he is keen in the classics as he nabbed his 13th top 10 of the season. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Klein Constantia) showed some back bone by taking a small sprint for 10th (thanks to BMC's Bas Tietema for setting me straight there!) behind the chasing group, which was another nice performance for his team along with Schreurs 3rd place, which have been vying to be the best in the U23 peloton, and himself, as he was 8th in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, 4th in the Istrian Spring Trophy and most recently, 11th in the Paris-Arras Tour. While this is certainly just the U23 ranks and the extra 80km of distance can really change things, Garcia has been doing things that a Spaniard hasn't done on the cobbles since Flecha.
-Disappointments on the day: BMC Development, Chambery and Vendée U missed the main breakaway at the finish. All had riders in the breakaway at some point but lady luck made sure to deal out some crashes and flats to take them out of meaningful contention.
I need to stop making any decisions about the Colpack/Zalf-Euromobil-Fior rivalry because I am always wrong. Earlier this year, I said that because I falsely predicted Colpack to usurp Zalf in 2015 that I would be sticking with Zalf for 2016 in the eternal battle for Italian amateur supremacy. Except that this year, Colpack has been clicking on all cylinders and even without Simone Consonni on his best, they have 19 wins already this season with Riccardo Minali taking 6 of them and a big chunk of the Italian calendar still to come.
Colpack did their best impression of Zalf from recent years by taking a full podium at Castelfidardo while Simone Bettinelli led home a "doppietta" in the Trofeo Montelupo.
Castelfidardo was a slaughter by any stretch of the word as Minali won by approximately 5 bike lengths on his teammate over Francesco Lamon and Filippo Ganna.
Castelfidardo was a slaughter by any stretch of the word as Minali won by approximately 5 bike lengths on his teammate over Francesco Lamon and Filippo Ganna.
In Montelupo, Bettinelli took an uphill sprint with teammate Oliveira Troia trailing in his wake.
While Zalf has won 10 races and Marco Maronese has continued to be quite a strong sprinter, it seems the tables have turned this year in favor of the white & black.
Pan Ams
In the U23 races that was devoid of any riders from the northern territories, Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile) dominated the competition by taking wins in the Road Race and TT. Rodriguez was top 20 in the U23 World TT in Richmond and won handily here by nearly 1 minute on Colombian U23 TT champ Carlo Mario Ramirez and Colombian John Rodriguez.
Similar to the Worlds course from '77, JLR went solo on the San Cristobal course and was able to escape from a small group including Jhonathan Narvaez and Caio Godoy. JLR won solo by 17 seconds on the chasers to cement his place for Chile in the World Championships in Doha, where he could be an outside top 10 shot. Rodriguez is apart of the World Cycling Centre in Aigle and will be seen this summer in Europe, probably culminating in a Tour de l'Avenir spot.
Paris-Arras Tour
While Klein Constantia is having a great year, there standout rider has been powerful rouleur Remi Cavagna, who has been using his time trialing skills to make growing boys cry and curse their feeble legs while they battle in an unknown gutter in central France. Cavagna's most recent win came at the Paris-Arras Tour, where he broke away on the final stage to take an impressive solo win on an otherwise flat course.
I thought it was a travesty that Cavagna wasn't elected to the French selection last year for the Richmond's Worlds, especially after he won the French U23 TT Championship. This year, Cavagna has taken similar wins this year with strong solo moves in the Volta ao Alentejo and Circuit des Ardennes.
If we are looking at one of the favorites for the U23 Worlds TT this year, look no further.
The Paris-Arras Tour? I could take it or leave it. I like that sprinters get there chance but if it wasn't for Cavagna, we would have probably seen Espoirs Central favorite Aidis Kruopis take three straight stage wins along with the overall. These races are so much harder than what meets the results page though as many were shot out the back without any remorse. So while it was a bit of a sprint fest, it is a good test for many young riders. If only the UCI would create a better U23 calendar that was more focused on actual development and add some much-needed competition between development teams.
While it came down to the line, Bjorg Lambrecht was soaking in his Ronde de l'Isard overall victory in all ready on the up and down course of the final stage, which was a miserable affair filled with torrential rain, crashes and abandons. Even a deviation at 300 meters to go didn't set back set back Lambrecht on his way to a surprising victory.
The overall victory was not secured at the top of the final climb, the Col de la Core, when Lambrecht was off the back and reeling thanks to an attack by Leo Vincent, who was given the blessing from his DS Pierre-Yves Chatelon to spice it up. Spice it up he did and the first year U23 from Lotto-Soudal was on the verge of losing what had been up to that point an absolute stunner. Lambrecht was able to compose himself on the descent and even though he said pre-stage that he was nervous about wet descents, the young rider put in the descent of his riding career and clawed his way back to the front group, even attacking shortly afterward with 2nd overall Mathias Le Turnier.
Scott Davies survived the climb without being dropped too far and was able to come back on the descent. With the lead group looking around, Davies used his time trialling abilities that saw him go 2nd in the Triptyque Monts et Chateaux and moved away from the leading group, distancing Aldemar Reyes and motoring into Saint-Girons with a huge gap. Davies took his first win on the continent and announced himself to those that might have been deaf for the past two years.
Only 8 riders survived in the lead group with Steff Cras being the main GC rival that missed out on the party after crashing.
Finished 8th in Tour de l'isard. So bad weather conditions. Rain, hail & snow. Crashed in downhill of col de la core. Bye good Result!
The surprise in this group? Sergio Higuita of Manzana-Postobon, who is another first year U23 rider.
Lambrecht held onto the yellow jersey by a mere 8 seconds over Le Turnier, who gave his Oceane Top 16 team an incredible result as they have been leaning heavily on Yoann Paillot
and Clement Saint-Martin. Leo Vincent eschewed searching for stage victories and showed that he is a potential GC candidate for the future by finishing 3rd overall. James Knox took his promise he showed with Zappi's and gave the most consistent race for Wiggins ahead of Davies and Dan Pearson.
Is Lambrecht the next Belgian climbing sensation?
Bjorg Lambrecht certainly blew everyone away by holding onto the overall win here in l'Isard but does that necessarily mean he is the next U23 general classification star? No. Not at all. Really, this is a great result but don't get ahead of yourself. l'Isard is not Aosta. While there are mountains, this type of course calls to a rider that feels comfortable in mountains as opposed to a pure climber that scaled 5 to 6 cols in a day. Remember, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, who by no means is a climber, stole this from Sergey Chernetskiy in 2012. I do not want to see anyone touting him as the next big thing when he needs some more races under his belt.
He does look like a little baby on the podium though, no? Even if he isn't the next Belgian answer in the mountains, he could fit the part for a movie if needed.
Lotto-Soudal U23 Super Team?
They brought in a very young team to l'Isard and boy, did they deliver. Lotto-Soudal U23 literally won every jersey on offer including the team competition. If it wasn't for Cras's crash on the final stage, we possibly could have seen two Lotto riders on the final podium.
Disappointment
Hernan Aguirre? The Wrath of God needs to keep improving to show that 9th overall from the Vuelta a Colombia last year. Hopefully there is a progressive build to the Tour de l'Avenir this year.
Lucas Papillon doesn't get many chances to shine on the big stage so he must be kicking himself for his slow start before he got his crap together and managed 11th overall, which was a big dip from 5th last year.
While Carboni finished better than last year and still had a good placing with 6th, he didn't capitalize on the momentum he had from bigger races such as the Tour of Turkey (13th overall) and the Tour de Azerbaijan (6th), which are both legitimate professional races. Hopefully he can go for jugular in Valle d'Aosta and some other races because otherwise, he is just another rider that is in that eternal wasteland from 6th-15th overall.
Elie Gesbert: future Tour de France stage winner
While Leo Vincent looked rock solid and France's next potential Tour de l'Avenir podium contender, Elie Gesbert won yet another stage in a big race to cement his status as a future stage hunter and is one of my favorite young riders that looks to take over the helm of the eternal French attackers in the Tour whose sole purpose on this earth is to attack the living hell out of the peloton and search for that perfect breakaway that comes only a few times in a Tour that allows for a true breakaway win. Pierrick Fedrigo needs a replacement. Gesbert has now taken stage in both l'Isard and in the Tour de l'Avenir as well as high placings in hard races such as the Tour de Bretagne (4th overall) and the Kreiz Breizh Elites (2nd). He is definitely ready for his transition to Fortuneo-Vital Concept.
.JPG/315px-Roubaix_-_Paris-Roubaix_espoirs%2C_29_mai_2016%2C_arriv%C3%A9e_(B14).JPG)
