Valle d'Aosta Wrap-Up: The Rise of Mark Padun, Part 1

While trying to focus on work, I was scrolling through Twitter updates about the first stage from the Giro della Valle d'Aosta to see what the hell was happening. When I saw who was in the breakaway, I shook my head. Mark Padun (Colpack) got himself into the breakaway with a handful of others and I was wondering to myself if the riders behind knew who they were dealing with. Padun was 8th in the 2015 edition of the U23 Peace Race/Zavod Miru and while his international results this year haven't been as good as they could be, he has been riding very strongly in Italy and was just 2nd in the Medio Brenta the other day.

A shot from the breakaway #girovda that's crossing railway! Km 83 pic.twitter.com/aO6rxuMqrT

— Giro Valle d'Aosta (@GiroVdA) July 14, 2016

Without giving a verbatim re-telling of the ticker, Padun accelerated on the Saxonnex climb to separate himself from the breakaway while Zilio and Bagioli (both Zalf) came across on the descent along with Ben Brkic (Tirol). On the Saint-Gervais climb,  Padun accelerated with Bagioli and then in the final kilometers of the climb, Padun moved away from Bagioli and took a beautiful solo win.

From Espoirs Central preview:

Padun could certainly win a stage if he gets it right... 

Behind, the peloton was not taking any time out of Padun, as if they didn't know of the threat that they had. The group of favorites stayed together behind until finally accelerating towards the end with Enric Mas (Klein Constantia) coming across the line in 3rd on the same time as Aldemar Reyes (Manzana Postobon) and Edward Ravasi (Colpack) while Bjorg Lambrecht, Thomas Vereecken, Steff Cras (Lotto-Soudal U23), Killian Frankiny (BMC Development) Hernan Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Manzana Postobon), Markus Freiberger (Tirol) and Tobias Foss (Norway) coming across within 10 seconds of Mas.

Hot take from Aosta: GC men gave too much time to Padun. They better be ready for a fight from Colpack.

— Chris K. (@Vlaanderen90) July 14, 2016

With Padun in the yellow leader's jersey, stage 3 rolled out from Quincinetto on a flatter circuit with only a couple of climbs until Piani di Tavagnasco, the brutal ascent out of the Dora Baltea river valley that averages nearly 11.5% for almost 10 kilometers.



The day's breakaway had real power with U23 World TT medalist Max Schachmann (Klein Constantia) joined by Pavel Sivakov (BMC Development), Jose Luis Rodriguez (UCI) and Luca Raggio (Viris Maserati). Raggio was shed coming into Tavagnasco and the breakaway got a maximum advantage of 7 minutes. The trio kept moving while behind it was Scott Davies and Dan Pearson (both Wiggins) attacking the peloton and made it up to Raggio and quickly passed him but passed them but were unable to join the leaders up front before the climb started.



On the lower slopes of the climb, the breakaway moved well together but Schachmann soon distanced himself as the best climber in the group and toddled up the climb faster than Sivakov and Rodriguez but Sivakov was doing well to keep the gap manageable. While the yellow jersey group accelerated behind and whittled down to a group of just 5, Schachmann continued to stretch his advantage on the chasers.


In the end, Schachmann took the fantastic win on the very steep Tavagnasco with Sivakov coming in 40 seconds down and Rodriguez just making it ahead of the steaming chasers. The Balaeric rider Mas launched a flyer and took 11 seconds out of Kilian Frankiny with Hernan Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Padun and Reyes coming in just seconds behind him. Padun kept his grasp on the yellow jersey very strong while GC became more defined with Mas & Frankiny looking to be the next two in contention with Manzana having the strongest overall team.


Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Wrap-Up with steep climbs, dirt roads and more drama than the Tour de France has provided so far.

Filippo Ganna dominates; no one cares

Italian sensation Filippo Ganna set the track world alight at the European U23 & Junior Track Championships in Montichiari, Italy by setting two times that would put him in the top 10 fastest individual pursuit times of all time.

This year is the 20 year anniversary of Andrea Collinelli winning the gold medal in the individual pursuit in the Atlanta Olympics by riding a 4'20" in the superman position to beat out Philippe Ermenault to take the biggest win ever in Italian track cyling in the modern era before or since. Until this year that is.

Earlier this year, Filippo Ganna put a ripple through the track cycling world when he came into the World Championships this year in the London veldrome and in the individual pursuit, he went better than traditional nations such as Great Britain, New Zealand and Switzerland to set up a gold medal ride with Dominic Weinstein of Germany. What happened next? Well, you can see that below.

Ganna had ridden the pursuit as a junior but his first 4km pursuit in competition wasn't until 2015 European Championshps, where he rode a good time of 4'27" but nowhere near the medals. So what did he do? What your coaches tell you to do throughout your formative years...practice, practice, practice. Ganna obviously had the power from his road exploits but channeling that effort into a very regimented pursuit is the rub. He went from a 4'27" time in the European Championships to a 4'16" in the both the qualifications and finals (a mere tenth off one another) in the World Championships in less than a year. He had been riding with the Italian Team Pursuit team, which certainly helped matters but how far can he go?

We got a taste of it in Montichiari after Ganna blew the doors and roof off of the velodrome by riding a 4'14"746 in the qualifications to make the finals. Ivo Oliveira rode a very fast 4'18"671, which would have just been shy of a medal in the Worlds this year, but when you are 4 seconds slower than the top qualifier? It puts things in perspective. Ganna's time was the fastest in competition 4k pursuit since Stefan Küng's 4'14"992 in the European Championship finals and at that point, Ganna's time was the 6th best time ever in competition. He couldn't go any better, right?

Well Ivo Oliveira ran a 4'17"448 in the finals, which is just shy of 56 kilometers per hour. That was a very impressive ride. Too bad his opponent rode a 4'14"165.  Knocking six tenths of a second off his qualifying time, Ganna put in the 5th fastest time in history (to my knowledge) and if you discount Boardman's Superman position times, it would be the 3rd best time ever. Ever. Yes technology has come a long way along with training while track conditions play a big part but Ganna is just 19 years old.

Yet due to some wonderful timing, literally no one besides a couple of die hards will actually give a rat's ass about this incredible performance because of the god almighty Tour de France. Add in the fact that some imbeciles took the individual pursuit out of the Olympics and we get a perfect formula for the English speaking media to not write a single thing about Ganna and his achievement. When he leads Italy to a surprise result in Rio in the Team Pursuit, everyone will be going ga-ga over him just like they did at Worlds when they had no idea who he was even though if they did a little bit of digging, they would have known the immense talent was there and on the cusp all along.

4'14"165

Question on my mind is if he could break Bobridge's record of 4'10"534 if given time to train, the appropriate conditions and some incentive. Given his meteoric rise, I would say that he has a better shot than anyone currently riding now to do it.

Giro della Valle d'Aosta: Eisenhart & BMC score

I started writing Espoirs Central three years ago now and I remember writing about the now-defunct Thüringen Rundfahrt, which was a major stage race at the point and bringing in all of the major development teams. I was under Herklotz fever as the first year U23 German was kicking ass but there were a lot of major names riding well there including Damien Howson, Caleb Ewan, Julian Alaphilippe, Magnus Cort, Lukasz Wisniowski, Lasse Norman Hansen and Dylan van Baarle. A rider that rode very well and was also a first year U23 was American TJ Eisenhart, who finished 6th overall. Eisenhart was coming off of a very strong junior season including overall wins in Pays de Vaud and l'Abitibi and was taking a strong step forward.

With this result, it looked like he could certainly continue to progress but it has been a harder road than many thought. Be it crashes, injuries or just not hitting expectations, Eisenhart has been one of those head scratchers as he has loads of talent but it wasn't always transferring. Today helped.

This is for everyone who has stuck by me. Honored to win this jersey with my brothers @BMCDevoTeam! #yellow #bmc pic.twitter.com/xsG5aQN7WQ

— TJ Eisenhart (@tj_eisenhart) July 13, 2016

The 50th consecutive edition of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta (53rd overall) kicked off with a TTT from Pont-Saint-Martin and journeyed up the valley for 20 kilometers to the hamlet of Montjovet, home to some wonderfully historic castle ruins, among other things. Not necessarily a test that will ruin your race unless you really miss out, which one team in particular did just that.

Time trial write ups can be really...stupid, especially if you don't have video or a lot of specific details to back it up with. As I'm currently not in Aosta and we do not have much video, I will need to wait until I get some more specific details from some riders before elaborating.In terms of the results, there are definite winners and losers in this test.

This is what teamwork looks like! Check out our 📹 from out on the 🇮🇹 roads at #girovda today! #BMCDevoTeam2016 pic.twitter.com/Uw6CxTPm87

— BMC Development Team (@BMCDevoTeam) July 13, 2016

BMC had a good strategy by protecting their GC favorite in Killian Frankiny and then having Eisenhart and Sivakov with him to drill it to the line. Everyone had a purpose and even with a lack of TTT events in the U23 ranks, they made it work.

The biggest surprise on the day had to be the UCI World Cycling Centre, who put on a strong display in the discipline and only ceding 5 seconds to BMC over 20 kilometers and putting both Caio Godoy and Jose Luis Rodriguez in good position for a good run at stealing the GC lead for a stage or two.

Espoirs Central pick for the win, Klein Constantia, came home in 3rd place just 8 seconds back to keep Enric Mas in a good spot overall heading into the mountains just behind Frankiny.

Other GC favorites had mixed results. Colpack rode well for 7th overall at 25 seconds back so Padun and Ravasi are sitting pretty currently. Cherkasov & Russia are down at 41 seconds, the Wiggins trio of Knox, Davies and Pearson came across 45 seconds back while Aldemar Reyes & Manzana had an alright ride that put them at 53 seconds back.

The biggest GC losers from today are definitely Lotto-Soudal U23, who lost a massive 1'26" to BMC and now Lambrecht and Cras are on the back foot going into the mountains. Astana City, Norway and Fundacion Contador also had sub-par tests that will make it harder for them going forward.

Now, the GC times could go from 2 seconds to 5 minutes in just one mountain pass so there could be a lot of change between now and then but as it stands now, Frankiny, Mas, Riabushenko & Ravasi are in a much better place than some.

Tomorrow, the race continues from Morillon in Haute Savoie for a rolling stage that finishes up on the climb to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. GC will most likely be defined but by no means set.

Giro della Valle d'Aosta Preview: Il Sogno del Scalatore

The sirens are calling. Their cries reach down into the valleys but only a few answers their calls. To rise to the top and then scream back down before doing it all over again; to push until the body has to make a silent pact that it will need to either sacrifice the lungs before your capillaries burst or your legs before lactic acid sears them into a bowl of grits.

When people think of the most prolific Italian amateur stage race, which should be at least a couple of times a month if you are sane like I, many probably think of the now-defunct GiroBio. While the GiroBio did have a glittering start list filled with Soviets and the who's who of up and coming talent. However, the Giro della Valle d'Aosta had been going for nearly a decade before the first GiroBio edition and nearly 15 years before the Giro della Regioni, which was basically a training group for Eastern European talent. Starting in 1962, the race has been run consecutively since 1967 and is celebrating its 50th consecutive edition this year. While the race had a few big names, it didn't start to gain more traction until the late 80s and into the 90s when names such as Ivan Gotti, Wladimir Belli and Gilberto Simoni won 4 consecutive editions. In more recent years, it has seen its racing days fluctuate and has seen some of the brightest stars see glory before spectacularly burning out as professionals (think Marco Marzano). Dan Martin, Thibaut Pinot, Carlos Betancur, Fabio Aru, Joe Dombrowski, Sergey Chernetskiy, Bob Jungels, Davide Villella and many others made their present felt here in one way or another.

This years edition of the race slowly turns the screws until Breuil Cervinia is the straw that could break many proverbial backs on the final stage.

I've discussed the course before on Twitter so I will attempt to be brief, something I can struggle with, with the course description.

Stage 1 - Pont Saint Martin to Montjovet - 19.94 kilometers - Team Time Trial

In a bit of a new move, the race with start out with a team time trial, which can limit some teams as they can brought some of their best climbers to this race and some of those riders are not the best against the clock on a more or less flat course. Moving up the valley from Pont Saint Martin to Montjovet, some GC men could get a bit of a head start if they have a strong team. Some other teams like Manzana Postobon are bringing a host of climbers but could struggle in this event.

Espoirs Central Favorite: Klein Constantia

Fun Fact: The ruins of the Castello di Saint-Germain, built in the 11th to 12thcenturies, sit just north of Montjovet. Montjovet was a strategic spot dating back to the Neolithic times and brought in quite a draw through the 14th and 15th centuries as a destination for merchants.

Stage 2 - Morillon to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc - 138.4 kilometers

Just 8 days prior to when the Tour de France is climaxing in the Alps, the U23s will be getting their crack on the same finishing climb as the pros. Starting in the French town of Morillon, which has been a staple of this race the past 5 years, the race only features one climb before coming to the final 13 kilometer slog to the Le Bettex ski station, which sits in the shadow of Mont Blanc. The Saint-Gervais climb itself averages roughly 6% for the entirety but there are a few little ramps here that max out at 10% but they are brief. For riders that are big diesel engines, this is a good climb for them as the more lithe climbers will be saving their legs for the stepper climbs to come.

Espoirs Central Favorite: Bjorg Lambrecht

Fun Fact: Le Bettex feautred in the 2015 Criterium du Dauphine but the stage itself was an absolute brute as it included 6 climbs with five of them being category 1 ascents.

Stage 3 - Quincinetto to Piani di Tavagnasco - 159.1 kilometers

Just before joining Astana for what is going on 4 full years now, Fabio Aru gave one last gift to the U23 world by dominating the 2012 edition of Valle d'Aosta including an impressive solo victory on the Piani di Tavagnasco climb, which is arguably one of the hardest climbs in all of the Aosta Valley. Not even hitting 10 kilometers in length, the climb rises 1050 meters in elevation for an average, yes an average, gradient of 11.2% with max gradients of 15%. This is barely even a climb but more of a wall with a string of tarmac littered with burnt out clutches and broken dreams.

The stage itself is more or less a march to the Tavagnasco climb with only one small climb on the  docket before the 9.4 kilometers from the depths of hell. This will separate the men from boys and GC will become very defined.

Espoirs Central Favorite: Aldemar Reyes

Stage 4 - Pontey to Fenis-Clavalite

Featuring two 9% climbs back to back, the ending to this stage is absolutely brutal with the finish on the Clavalite, which throws in a bit of dirt road right at the end to mix things up a little bit. The Clavalite climb is unlike anything else that these riders will face this year. Featuring a maximum gradient for 19% as well as a final three kilometers that averages over 11%, the race's favorites will go from slim to very slim in a very quick fashion.

Espoirs Central Favorite: Mark Padun

Stage 5 - Valtournenche to Breuil Cervinia

Sound familiar? This is the 3rd time running that this climb is being used as a finish point. Last year, this stage was an absolute slog with an 160 kilometer stage taking nearly 5 and a ahalf hours. The final 60 kilometers of this particular stage mirror that of the 2015 Giro d'Italia where Fabio Aru won all by himself. You want to shake things up on the GC? You better come and bring it. The final climb itself isn't incredibly difficult as it just average 5% but it does go on for roughly 18 kilometers and has ramps nearing 10%. Combined with the St. Pantaléon climb just before it, it is going to be a brutish finale.

Espoirs Central Favorite: Jose Luis Rodriguez in a breakaway

The Contenders

The start list for this year's edition of Valle d'Aosta is a pretty good mix save for a few here and there. Most of the top teams are here bar Axeon-Hagens Berman and some of the stronger French teams like Chambery CF. For those hoping Adrien Costa would show up here, Mike Sayer's USA National Team is giving this race a pass to rest the young charge for an assault on the Tour de l'Avenir later this summer. Australia has also given the pass with their pivot from Italy to Belgium. Going down the start list by numbers, let's see the what's what...or who's who for that matter.

Lotto-Soudal probably has the revelation of the year with Bjorg Lambrecht, who won the Ronde de l'Isard in his first ever mountainous stage race and then went on to win a stage in the Zavod Miru/Peace Race U23 and 10th overall in Pays de Savoie. He might not be a man for the highest mountains like Aosta but still a good trial for him. He should be splitting leadership with Steff Cras, who has been consistently 8th overall in UCI stage races this year. Harm Vanhoucke is another good asset in the mountains and could be an outside bet to take a stage win here if a breakaway makes it to the line.

BMC Development comes in with one of the favorites for the overall win in Kilian Frankiny. 4th here last year after taking 5 minutes on the GC favorites on the final stage, Frankiny has become more consistent this year with 3rd in the Peace Race and 6th in Pays de Savoie. Patrick Müller is a force in one day racing but should be competent in the mountains along with TJ Eisenhart.

Zalf-Euromobil has a problem in that they can win any lumpy Italian one-day race but they have next to nothing for the high mountains currently. Bagioli is their best bet for a result or maybe Zilio. I would potentially say Lucca as he was a standout junior but hasn't done anything yet in the U23 level. Just seems like an okay roster for such a deep team.

Palazzago, led by Popovych's old director Olivano Locatelli,  is a shell of its former self. Riabushenko is touted as a climber but it remains to be seen what he can do in the high mountains. Ippolito made a breakaway here last year for a top 10 stage result so perhaps he can be the old man's saving grace.

Norway lost a lot of its punch after losing Odd Eiking and Sindre Lunke to the pro ranks but they bring some up and coming riders. Njal Kleiven and Øivind Lukkedal are probably the two best climbers on the team but they would be looking for maybe a top 10 overall? We will see if they get that lucky but a breakaway seems like a good bet.

Another one of the heavy favorites is the winner from Savoie, Enric Mas of Klein Constantia. The Spaniard went toe to toe with Tao Geoghegan Hart and came out on top thanks to consistent climbing and a strong time trial. Mas could replicate his victory here by gaining time in the team time trial and then following wheels in the mountains and covering any dangerous attacks. Now he has not been the best climber all season long and Savoie was his coming out party so could he falter? Certainly. He has diesel-powered Max Schachmann at his disposal for the dirty work of pulling back breakaways while Nuno Bico and Michal Schlegel will be there in the mountains for him.

The opposite of Zalf-Euromobil, Colpack brings a team with a potential overall GC favorite in Lampre-bound Edward Ravasi as well as a strong climber in Ukranian Mark Padun. Think of them as more of a two-pronged threat because if Ravasi loses time on a stage, we will then just go for stage wins and the KOM jersey while Padun has been loving the hard Italian one day races with a 2nd at the recent Medio Brenta to teammate Fausto Masnada. Padun could certainly win a stage if he gets it right and if Ravasi is consistent, they have a strong team behind them to make it work.

The Haute-Savoie team? Better be ready to hang on.

Flavio Zappi is bringing yet another young British team to the mountains but this year, they are probably the most green. I'm going to go with James Davey for their best chance at a result.

Alberto Contador's Foundation team gave us Enric Mas and this year, they bring a mixed bag. Alvaro Cuadros is a good rouleur but the big mountains can catch him out (see what happened last year). Any chance of a result will come from either Cuadros or Diego Noriega, who started to come alive on the horrible final stage of l'Isard this year.

Jose Luis Rodriguez has been dropping hints for a couple of years now and then he went to win the Tour du Pays de Roannais. He isn't the best climber but if he can show big improvement, he could be an outside shot for a top 10 overall at the Tour de l'Avenir this year. Andrej Petrovski apparently has had testing numbers off the scale but hasn't been able to put together a great performance. Caio Godoy is a competent climber as well that can make a breakaway.

VL Technics? Better be ready to hang on.

UC Monaco? Better be ready to hang on.

Russia begins and ends with Nikolay Cherkasov. Yeah, Aydar Zakarin might be a professional but he is a one-climb wonder; he might be a bit better with the pro miles in his legs but he won't be winning here.

Bringing one of the strongest team of climbers, Wiggins is bringing along the trio of Dan Pearson, James Knox and Scott Davies. Davies had a huge victory on the final stage of the Ronde de l'Isard and did very well in Croatia. He is similar to Pearson in that they are not flashy climbers but very consistent when they are on form. Knox is probably the best climber out of the trio as he is able to follow accelerations with the pure climbers.  Knowing the course, I would say that Knox is the best bet as long as he keeps up the consistency he showed earlier this year.

I'm excited to see the Dimension Data team as they have my favorite Rwandan rider, Valens Ndayisenga. I'm assuming his goal is to get through the race but good luck to him. Probably the best chance of a result comes down to Eritrean Amanuel Gebreigzabhier.

Colombia last won here in Aosta with Bernardo Suaza in 2014 and they could very well win it with his current trade team Manzana Postobon and Aldemar Reyes. Reyes was contending for the podium in the Vuelta a Colombia filled with scourges of the peloton before a bad day knocked him down to 10th overall. In a nearly two week race, Reyes performed beautifully and he after showing his form in Portugal this weekend, he could be primed for his first big win. He has a team behind him and in the name of clean cycling, he could be a beacon for Colombia.

Astana City...hmm...well...uhh...Akhmetov, I guess.

Former Euskaltel rider JJ Oroz brings the Lizarte team, which are juggernauts in the Spanish amateur circuit. Problem being is they very rarely compete on the UCI circuit so if they are looking for a result, I am thinking of Oscar Rodriguez.

EFC-Etixx bring a lot of talented riders but for the mountains? No, not really. Perhaps Declercq can get into a breakaway or two.

Daniel Savini is young but Hoopla doesn't have much else to hang their hopes on so hopefully Savini finds his climbing legs and fast.

You know those riders that are between places 9 and 17? Basically this is the majority of Tirol Cycling. So perhaps a top 10 overall with Dennis Paulus.

Gavardo-Tecmor? Better be ready to hang on.

Cycling Academy? Better be ready to hang on.

Vlasov can climb pretty well. So why not Viris-Maserati for the overall? Well, I guess you will see why not.

Espoirs Central Overall Picks

1. Aldemar Reyes
2. Kilian Frankiny
3. Enric Mas
4. James Knox
5. Bjorg Lambrecht

Mid-week Musings

With the Tour in full swing now, a lot of other, far more interesting news is being drowned out by Cavendish's favorite brand of corn flakes and how Geoffrey Soupe got his beard to be so impressive. I would usually take to Twitter with some of my musings however my phone is currently located in my car and with nerve pain shooting through my back, I'm content to pour my thoughts out onto a pixilated page. I think I would enjoy a typewriter...

Österreich Rundfahrt

Everyone's favorite July mountain race is back again with some fantastic uphill finishes as well as a great final stage into Vienna that features a steep finish into town.

Currently, the pure climber Jan Hirt seems poised to take the event after placing 3rd overall last year after a masterful ride in the fog to the top of the Edelweißspitze climb, which topped out at over 2500 meters in elevation.

This race has been proving well for young riders this week as well as a certain unknown rider. Lukas Schlemmer was a close 2nd in the crazy uphill prologue on the Kitzbühler Horn to Will Clarke. Daniel Auer had a nice sprint on stage 1 for 5th. Mr. Cyclocross Clement Venturini took his first pro win on stage 2 for Cofidis. Brendan Canty took his first pro win with Drapac in his first neo-pro year after separating himself from Markus Eibegger and a strong group of favorites.

While Hirt soared away on the Edelweißspitze, one name stood out to me among the list of professionals and former World Tour riders. He isn't a U23 either as Domen Novak was first U23 across the line in 15th. Hermann Pernsteiner is a name that I doubt anyone reading this outside of Austria knows. Hell I doubt many Austrians know him. I had no idea who he was other than we are the same age. He came across the line in 7th place after a 4th place behind Canty on stage 3. This impressive climbing performance was followed by a nice lead group finish into Dobratsch.

Pernsteiner currently sits in 6th overall on the GC but what makes this even more impressive is that this is only his 2nd UCI stage race on the road and only his first season riding on the road full-time with Amplatz-BMC. Pernsteiner comes from a mountain biking background that saw him take podium spots in the national championships in XC but last year, he was 2nd in the hillclimb national championships by just three seconds to Stephan Rabitsch, who recently won the Oberösterreichrundfahrt. This is only his 2nd UCI stage race after going top 20 in the Tour of Slovenia but he rides MTB stage races including the Cape Epic and the Alpentour, where he won a stage this year.

While incredibly new to the scene, he is certainly a name to watch, especially if a team like say perhaps Bora-Argon 18 gets curious for a climbing stagiaire.

Tour Alsace teams announced

After the race was neutered by the cancellation of the longest stage due to bickering between local councils and the organizers, the Tour Alsace will go on with a prologue and 4 stages with a very impressive list of teams though lacking in French teams as only a small handful of amateur teams were selected. These teams include...

Avanti-IsoWhey Sports
Beobank-Corendon
Dimension Data-Qhubeka Continental
GM Europa Ovini
Klein Constantia
Leopard Pro Cycling
LKT Team Brandenburg
Manzana-Postobon Team
Rabobank Development Team
SEG Racing Academy
Team Joker-Byggtorget
Team Wiggins
Tirol Cycling Team
Vérandas Willems
Aldro Cycling Team
BMC Development Team
Centre Mondial du Cyclisme
Lotto-Soudal U23

USA
Sweden
Switzerland

AVC Aix-en-Provence
CC Etupes
Vendée U
Remy Meder Haguenau

While I wish more French teams such as Chambery CF, Pays de Loudéac or BIC 2000 were there, I can understand the regionalism (sort of) and the lack of budget. That being said, that is nearly the who's who of the development world besides Axeon.

You can visit the race website for a lot of information as well as stage profiles. Stage 3 to Lac Blanc looks nice.

Speaking of Pays de Loudéac...

Tour de la Dordogne

Future Fortuneo-Vital Concept rider Elie Gesbert started the Tour de la Dordogne off with a bang as he went out solo in the opening stage of this little gem of a race set in the scenic southwestern department of France. Gesbert won his 7th race of the year for the up and coming VC Pays de Loudéac team, who have been dominating the Coupe de France DN1 rankings this year. The Bretagne squad is actually sponsored by Vital Concept so his move up to the big leagues certainly makes sense.

A big separation happened here that only has 33 riders left in contention for the overall including Bretagne and French amateur champion Valentin Madouas and Espoirs Central's favorite Ivory Coast rider, Issiaka Cisse.

Chris Hamilton to Giant-Alpecin; Trek-Segafredo announce development network

Coming from l'Equipe, Giant-Alpecin is about to get a big injection of money into their coffers from a now unknown source but it was announced that Australian U23 RR Champion Chris Hamilton will be joining the team for 2017. Joining Dutchman Lennard Hofstede, Hamilton will be the 2nd neo-pro for the team that announced they would be re-starting a continental team focused on German talent. The Netherlands and Australia are not in Germany, for those keeping score at home.

Hamilton is certainly a talent but going straight to the World Tour from his Avanti team is going to be quite a challenge. He rode well in Tour Down Under but he was on some sizzling summer form while others were just getting into their groove. He has ridden well in Asia but the competition level there can be a bit spotty. I know this sounds like a dark cloud but going from riding the Tour of Taiwan to riding the Volta a Catalunya is like going into Technicolor. Best of luck to Hamilton on his new ride.

---

Transitioning elsewhere, Trek-Segafredo have announced a "development network" that will grow from its connection with EFC-Etixx and stated that they are looking into having a connection with Viris-Maserati and Ausonia Pescantina for 2017. This could be interesting as Colpack and Zalf-Euromobil-Fior are "officially" locked up with Lampre and Bardiani-CSF so getting access to some Italian talent that isn't on the two super teams is a smart move. Jakub Mareczko came from Viris only a couple years ago and he has been dominating B/C level sprints.

Trek-Segafredo also announced they have been doing some rider testing and have announced riders that will be joining them for a training camp in the Alps, where stagiaires will be chosen from. They said that while not all of the tested riders joined their camp of riders, they will continue to keep tabs on them.

The 10 riders chosen include Piet Allegaert, Christophe Noppe, Jordi Warlop (all EFC-Etixx), Aleksandr Riabushenko (Palazzago), Martin Bouzas (Super Froiz), Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Bicicletas Rodriguez), Oliveira Troia (Colpack), Michael Bresciani (Zalf-Euromobil-Fior), Davide Botta (VC Mendrisio) & Jacopo Mosca (Viris Maserati).

A decent group here but not filled with world beaters. Allegaert and Troia are potential classics stars in the making. Bouzas is a first year U23 but won the Spanish U23 TT after winning the junior title last year. Riabushenko is a climbing talent but his results have not been stellar or what I thought a World Tour team would look for. Noppe is a good sprinter while Gallego was 4th overall in the Copa de Espana after winning the Memorial Valenciaga in very impressive fashion over four Lizarte riders.

A good example of what the stagiaire program should be. Riders that are not assured World Tour contracts but need to get experience at the highest level to see how they will adapt.

Stagiaire Roundup

It is that time of year again and in just one month, a lucky few young cyclists will get the opportunity to race amongst the highest level. Stagiaire announcements are coming thick & fast with the French once again being the first out of the gate but the Belgians are hugging their wheel.

FDJ - David Gaudu and Léo Vincent

.@DavidGaudu et Leo Vincent rejoindront l'équipe en tant que stagiaires à partir du 1er août ! pic.twitter.com/QSjPLvmv2E

— Equipe FDJ (@EquipeFDJ) June 29, 2016

David Gaudu (Côtes d'Armor) is going to be a rider that many will be surprised to see. If he is able to make a clean transition, the repetitive attacking quality that Gaudu has it pretty incredible.  The opening stage of the Ronde de l'Isard was the perfect showing of this. On the final climb to Goulier Neige, Gaudu kept poking and proding, launching multiple attacks even when they were probably not in the best spot. Gaudu launched late on the climb and then came back for the sprint and managed a 2nd place against guys who he had to chase his tiny frame for the last half hour. A wily French climber showing himself in the mountains? The crowds will go nuts.

Leo Vincent (CC Etupes) was a rider last year that was a specialist for stage wins and crazy attacks. This year, it is a bit of a different story. Vincent has turned his sights towards the GC and has taken high GC spots in the Ronde de l'Isard, Pays de Savoie and the Tour du Jura, which he won.

Both riders were associated with the FDJ Foundation, which supports a few number of riders from various teams and usually selects their neo-pros from there, ala Odd Eiking.

Lotto-Belisol - James Shaw, Kevin Deltombe & Michael Goolaerts

Deltombe just broke his collarbone so he will need July to heal up and hopefully give him time so he can race with the pros

more to follow...

Ag2r - La Mondiale - Benoit Cosnefroy, Remy Rochas and Etienne Fabre

more to follow...

Movistar - Richie Carapaz (??)

Carapaz moved to Lizarte halfway through the year and this team has moved a good amount of riders to Movistar. I have heard through the grapevine that Carapaz looks set for stagiaire with Movistar this year but nothing has been announced. Four wins in Spain will have many people looking around, that is for certain.

Orica-Bike Exchange - Nick Schultz (one source in veloclub.net)

After a couple of years in France with CR4C Roanne, Schultz joined SEG Racing this year and over the last  two and a half months has hit a torrid stretch of four top 10 overalls including a stage win at Tour de Bretagne. His climbing has come around this year and while he isn't at the point of being an overall contender in the high mountains, he can hold his own for a while.

Caja Rural - Jon Irisarri

Irisarri has already signed a contract with Caja Rural for next year after moving up from their amateur team.

more to follow...

Delko - Marseille Provence - Sofiane Merignat & Ronald Yueng(??)

Yueng was said to be joining Delko way back in January but mid-way through March, he signed with Chinese team Wisdom-Hengxiang so is this deal still on the table? Doubtful but we shall see.

more to follow...

Roubaix - Métropole - Pierre Barbier & Dylan Kowalski

Brothers of Roubaix alums in Rudy Barbier (still on team) and ex-pro Rudy Kowalski

more to follow...