New Kids on the Block - Cycling Edition, Part I

2022 is gonna be one of cycling’s greatest seasons ever. It seems that covid restrictions will no longer be applicable, route planners are creating crazier routes with steeper and weirder climbs and racing has never been so fast. These factors will all be challenging not only for riders but also for chairmen and sporting directors, as well. A lot of things have changed since the last ’regular’ season (2019), but one of the most important changes is the youth. We have so many bloody talented cyclists from all around the world. The level of U23 field and even junior races are really high and the way how World Tour teams usually aren’t afraid to dig deep to find incredible pearls whom they can throw into deep waters at the age of 19 or 20. Some of them are already prepared and can easily shine and fulfill the huge expectations directed to him, which was an unexpected phenomenon 5 or 10 years ago.

In this article, I’ll rank 27 teams (18 World Tour teams and 9 Pro-Conti teams) according to their U25 squad. I chose 25 for the age limit as usually, in Grand Tours, 25 is the age limit for the white (youth) jersey classification. 23 would have been a bit too narrow, 27 would have been too broad (also, it is the prime for many riders) so 25 is a good indicator for a lot of things. All riders included in this list were born after 1997. 01. 01. and for uncertainty reasons, Qhubeka-Nexthash is not included in this list, if their situation will be resolved in the future, they will be there in a few weeks’ time. The roster list I looked for the list is from 2021. 11. 09. The rating is subjective, although there were certain objective aspects (quantity, quality, potential) which were taken into serious consideration.

#27: Team TotalEnergies

Although TotalEnergies has signed Peter Sagan and Daniel Oss for next season as new forces, the team is really lacking in young talents. At this point, only 4 U25 riders are in the 24-member roster and except for one, they are nice domestiques who can help the experienced guys on flat/hilly terrains. The only great talent in this team is the 23-year-old Vendee-born rider, Mathieu Burgaudeau, who had a breakout season last year. The main performance of his season was a 3rd place in Coppa Sabatini, which certainly was a huge stunt for people who haven’t heard his name before. But this podium wasn’t at all unexpected. He had top 15 places in Paris-Troyes, Arctic Race of Norway overall, Pantani Memorial, Loire Atlantique Classic and in Boucles de l’Aulne. He will have a much stronger squad around him next year, he will be the leader of the young side of the team, he needs to have higher roles in the leadership, but I can foresee a very nice 2022 season for him.

#26: Israel Start-Up Nation

Sometimes, people on social media tend to call Israel as the ‘pensioners’ team, and even though I hate to be this radical, I need to say that routine is one of the key features of this team. More than 50% of the riders signed for 2022 are over 30 in age, and they have at least 6-7 years of World Tour experience either with Israel or with other teams. In quantity, they are pretty much lacking, 3 riders from Down Under and one from Israel contributes to the U25 category, and interestingly enough, except for Sebastian Berwick, they are all sprinters. Two names that need to be mentioned are Corbin Strong, a newcomer to World Tour level, races at famous SEG Academy last year, and he is one of the bests in track cycling. I believe, it is always good to see how track specialists fare among road conditions, some, like Ganna, are doing amazing things, I’ll be curious if he can deliver some good results. The other name is Itamar Einhorn, 24-year-old Israeli sprinter, who had a fairly great debut Grand Tour in Spain, claiming 2 top10 places along the route, and he scored his first pro win in Tour de Slovakia towards the end of the season. I expect him to continue this slow and steady performance and I expect the team to slowly focus on developing young talents as well.

#25: Euskaltel – Euskadi

It was such a joyful sight to see the famous Basque orange colours back in the peloton at La Vuelta, and to be fair, Euskaltel did not disappoint us at all. For a guy like me, who was raised and grown up watching Iban Mayo, Amets Txurruka and Samuel Sanchez, this team lives its own renaissance, although obviously, due to its limited funds and Pro-Conti status, the fame and successes don’t come that easy. Their squad is relatively balanced in terms of age, they do have veteran riders like Juan Jose Lobato, riders in their prime like Mikel Bizkarra or Gotzon Martin, and youngsters as well. My rider to watch from Euskaltel is Xabier Mikel Azparren, a 22-year-old rider from San Sebastian, who was nominated into the U23 team of Spain in the World Championship, and also rode Vuelta until the end, which is a pretty huge landmark in his career. His main focus is on Time Trials, but I think he could be a very good puncheur, he trains every day on those terrains, I see a lot of potential for improvement in him.

#24: Team BikeExchange

The Australian team is one of the few teams that still have a lot of squad spaces and as I write this piece, they have already announced a talented rider, which I obviously include here. BikeExchange had a fairly bad season in 2021, and the signs were not looking promising in August and September, but as the bricks begin to build themselves, we kinda get an idea about the squad. As for the younger generation, BikeExchange isn’t overflown with generational talents, but they added two important pieces into the team who can shine already in their first season. It is astonishing to realize that Matteo Sobrero fits into the U25 category but he does, and if he continues his improvement which already brought him an Italian TT championship and his stellar improvement in hills (can’t forget his absolute amazing ride in Nova Gorica this summer), than he can be a force in easier one-week races, I can clearly see him winning Tour of Hungary, for example. On the other hand, Alexandre Balmer will be a newbie in World Tour level at 2022 season, and his palmares so far has been pretty impressive, a lot of top 10 places in one-day races – he can climb very well, but during first season, I guess his main aim is to ride safely and gain a handful of experience.

#23: B&B Hotels p/b KTM

As a team, B&B Hotels has improved a lot this season, and if we consider that Pierre Rolland is no longer in his prime, it does highlight this fact in a very positive manner. Everyone knew the names of Quentin Pacher (who will ride for FDJ in 2022) and Franck Bonnamour (most aggressive rider in 2021 Tour, riding for B&B in 2022 as well), and due to these results, they were the 4th best Pro-Conti team in 2021 season. In terms of new gunpower, they are relatively well-equipped, and I can name 3 riders here who may have a breakout season next year. Maxime Chevalier, the 22-year-old Saint-Nazaire-based all around rider had a relatively silent 2021, with a stage win in the prologue of Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc, he really needs to stabilize himself and manifest some nice performances in smaller, 2.1 and 2.2 races, to earn a better reputation for the next seasons. Pierre Barbier, sibling of Israel’s rider Rudy Barbier has signed from tragically ceased DELKO, and his sprinting abilities can really help for such a team as they won’t have to rely solely on their top sprinter….

…who is Luca Mozzato. I was pretty surprised no World Tour teams signed him during this off-season as he was among the most consistent PCT sprinters in 2021. He could have easily won Nokere Koerse with a better tactics, he finished top 10 in Scheldeprijs, Elfstedenronde, Tour of Deutschland, and Eurometropole Tour, they are all pretty famous and high-quality races. The last step in this development is victory, he needs to grab a few this year, if he does it, than I think he has a high chance that we see him in the Elite in 2023.

#22: Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

Stability is one of the key aspects of the red-whites and this is really meant for the youth development, as well. They have good talents from the French scenery, but interestingly enough, both of them are imports and will start their first season with the team. Hugo Toumire scored an unexpected 5th place in 2021 Tour de l’Avenir, but apart from this, he didn’t have any significant results in his career. His first year will be all about learning and developing into a better rider. Alexis Renard, however, has had a good 2021 and he vows to continue the upward trend in 2022. Renard came 2nd in Münsterland Giro, third overall in Wallonie Tour and had a podium place in Tour of Poland, already showing some of his potential. He will be a beast in one-day races and as has been said, he needs to gain momentum, he is still pretty young, so he has time for establishing a successful career.

#21: Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux

Everyone was afraid that Intermarché-Wanty will stand out from the peloton in a negative aspect as their squad seemed to be weak and ‘underdeveloped’ for World Tour level. Luckily, they absolutely proved every analyst wrong, they literally were Grand Tour specialists as their best achievements came on Giro and La Vuelta, respectively. Most importantly, they have some amazing young recruitments for 2022, which they will use for the sake of their own benefits. Georg Zimmermann came 5th on his home tour in Germany, 7th in Tour de l’Ain, and had some solid breakaway rides all season long. He will be a force in punchy races and in breakaways, as well. Julius Johansen, a former Uno-X alum is joining the team in 2022, he is also one to look out for in classic races, Gerben Thijssen will be a nice addition to the young sprinter squad, which will be led by the 21-year-old Eritrean sensation Biniyam Ghirmay Hailu. Ghirmay is seriously the new hope of African cycling, who has signed mid-season to Intermarché in 2021, and since August, he has been in stellar form. His main results are:

● 7th in Druivenkoers – Overijse

● Winner of Grand Besancon Doubs

● 2nd at Tour du Doubs

● 2nd in U23 World Champs

● 5th in Gran Piemonte

If he can continue this trend of development than I believe he will win a stage in a Grand Tour next season.

#20: Caja Rural – Seguros

The Pamplona-based team had a solid season thanks to Jon Aberasturi’s sprints and Jonathan Lastra’s superb climbing performances, but as Aberasturi left to Trek-Segafredo for 2022, they needed to sign someone who helps them in sprints. Although the current amount of U25 riders in the team is 50%, which is a fairly high amount, they lack in generational talents. I loved Jokin Murguialday last season, he really can be the next great Basque climber in the future, needs some more strength and experience for this level, but 2022 will be a step forward for him. For Sergio Roman Martin, this will be the last year in the U25 category but he is in kind of the same steps as Murguialday was, the difference is that Martin had some top races in the calendar including Vuelta, and he showed some potential as a puncheur in 2021, but next year will definitely be a ‘do or die’ for him. As for the Aberasturi-replacement, Portuguese 23-year-old Iuri Leitao comes with a high pedigree from track cycling, with being a multiple European Champion and a silver medalist from Roubaix in the World Champs, but obviously, road cycling is clearly a different discipline. He has delivered good results in Portuguese smaller 2.2 races this year, but his first real pro year will be incredibly difficult. New roads, new situations, harder pace will all be factors and difficulties he needs to face with. But I am eagerly waiting for his debut, he will surely be a force in sprints.

#19: EOLO-Kometa

Alberto Contador’s and Ivan Basso’s Hungarian-Italian-Spanish coproduction team had a very good season in 2021 with some breakout performances. Lorenzo Fortunato was the star of the team without any doubts, he clearly had some stellar rides by winning the legendary stage at the top of Monte Zoncolan, finishing 16th overall in Giro, and also winning the Adriatica Ionica race overall. Another star of the team was Vincenzo Albanese, who finished in top 6 in Pantani Memorial, Coppa Agostini and Giro del Veneto, as well, he was the trademark of consistent performances throughout the season. The 2022 plans are kind of the same as for this year, they would like to develop young talents, and in numbers, they probably have the youngest squad among the teams I list here. 70% of the riders are under 26, and 50 of them are under 25, and there are some old and new faces among them. Simone Bevilacqua, for instance, is a newbie, he signed from Vini-Zabu, and although he wasn’t in-form this year, he still had some decent results in past years and can return to his prime in 2022. Samuele Rivi had a top 10 in Trofeo Matteotti, Davide Bais is still a promising, young climber, who had great top 20, 25 places in hilly races and a climber jersey from Tour de Limousin. The #1 in the list of promising riders is the 21-year-old Hungarian Erik Fetter, though. Fetter had a bounce-back season in 2021 after his severe injury suffered in 2020 Tour de l’Ain. He finished in top 25 at the prestigious and mountainous Tour of the Alps, won the Hungarian TT National Champs, won a stage with a late attack at Tour de Limousin, ended 4th in U23 Euro Champs and had a very good shot for a medal in U23 Worlds. He seems to be very good in all kinds of terrains and his aim for next season is to find the one in which he is the most comfortable and to gain experience – I think he will start Giro so it will be a great test for him.

#18: Arkea Samsic

Team Arkea’s 2021 season was kind of a good one, the beginning was very promising with Nairoman The Legend Quintana finally seemed to have found a small bit of his prime and his old form, and during the rest of the year the spoils have been shared among Warren Barguil (Limousin), Connor Swift (Tro-Bro-Leon) and among some promising riders like Alan Riou or Matis Louvel. The 2022 young core seems to be very promising, I would love to have such cool riders in my team. Alessandro Verre might only be 19 years old, but the young rider from Potenza has had an impressive 2021 season. He was 6th in the U23 Giro and was 5th in Tour de l’Avenir until a crash forced him to abandon the race. He seems to be a natural climber who can show amazing things already in his first pro year. Kevin Vauquelin is known for himself being the u23 TT champion, he had kind of an underwhelming World Champs, but his abilities are there and he is still only 20 years old, so he can improve in all disciplines. I have already mentioned Matis Louvel, he had a breakout season in 2021 with some amazing one-day performances in French, Italian and Spanish races, he won the Castilia y Leon one-day classic, and had multiple top 10 and top 20 performances in French races, he is a kind of a specialist in hilly conditions and I think if he continues this wave of development, he can sign a WT contract in the next 2 years. Last, but not the least, Thibaut Guernalec, who is the TT specialist of this core, earned some great top 10s as well, and I expect him to win his first pro race in 2022. All in all, a stacked team with prospects that have high potential for the near future.

#17: Bardiani-CSF-Faizane

Bardiani is the team where every year there is one particular rider who really stands out from the rest and just brings uncountable amount of victories for this small squad. Most of their successes last year came from 1.2 and 2.2 races in Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria, and they have won Sazka Tour, which was a hilly, 2.1 4-stage race in Czech Republic. Now the 2022 lineup for the team is really young, and I think that is why I have put them into this place, because I, personally, do not know much about them and many of these riders can really shine under special circumstances. There are two talents I need to mention here. Samuele Zoccarato finished in an epic third place on the Italian National Championships and if we look at his results, this was a huge shock for me as well, however, this has been a signature performance and he backed it up with a top 10 place at Trofeo Matteotti. His next step is to stabilize his form and import it into better performances in the entire season. The best rider of the entire team, however, is Filippo Zana. I am really happy he stayed in this team, because I think 2022 will be his year in terms of leadership and his learning curve could lean towards a very good direction. Zana started the season in a slow manner, however, he was on fire since August, and his last 2 months were incredible. He finished 5th overall in Adriatica Ionica, won the Sazka Tour (without any stage victories which is pretty astonishing), finished 3rd in Tour de l’Avenir (with 4 top 5s in the last 4 crucial stages) and was there in the front at both Euros and Worlds, with a bit more luck he could have been scored a medal at least. Next season, he will probably be the leader of Bardiani at the Giro and my hot take is that he will win a stage, which would be the team’s first after Giulio Ciccone won in Sestola in 2016.

#16: Astana Qazakstan Team

Astana had a fairly difficult 2021 season, with many ups and downs throughout the year. They had lots of national championships victory, but when it mattered most, in Grand Tours and in WT races, they normally failed to deliver. They had some nice moments, like Lutsenko’s unexpected TT victory in Dauphine, or Alex Aranburu’s triumph in Gipuzkoa, but otherwise, this was a pretty silent season, that’s why they brought Moscon, Nibali, Superman Lopez or Velasco to the team for next year. The U25 part of the team is… a bit underwhelming, obviously, there are some young riders from Kazakhstan, Gleb Brussenskiy is probably the best of them, he is a good sprinter, but he also can climb as well, the top 15 from 2021 Tour de l’Avenir overall proves this fact, but honestly, I don’t feel there is so much of a potential in improvement. Michele Gazzoli, on the other hand, is one to watch. Winner of the famous one-day race Grand Prix de la Liberazione from 2021 and 4th place finisher at U23 Worlds, Gazzoli has the ability to climb and sprint at the same time, and this two-way puncheur skills are currently the most important for cycling. He might not win a race in 2022, but he will be one heck of a helper for his teammates. The leader of the U25 squad is the 2019 U23 World Champion, Samuele Battistella, who have had a rough first season in 2020, due to many reasons, however, I think he had a bounce-back year in 2021. He has been incredibly consistent in the second half of the season, he finished 4th in Arctic Race of Norway, 10th in Giro della Toscana, 6th in Matteotti, 4th in Bernocchi, and to sum up his amazing 2 months, he won Veneto Classic ahead of Marc Hirschi. Battistella is clearly the new puncheur talent of Italy, but his next season will be key for his development, if he can continue his form for next year, he will be among the top 75 riders in World Tour by the end of 2022, which would be quite an achievement from the Treviso-based rider.

#15: EF Education - NIPPO

EF is among my top 3 favourite teams in the World Tour. The combination of their innovative approach to cycling, their multinational squad and the DS, Jonathan Vaughters make such a hipster fluid that cannot be denied. Actually, they had quite a nice season last year with 16 wins, and 4 of them came from riders who will be member of the young core of the team for the 2022 season, as well. Although it would be a crime not mentioning the epic rides from Valgren and Cort, the Danish Dynamite Duo, we need to focus more on this upcoming season. The squad is a mixture of some new recruitments and already proven riders, which can make some good efforts in different types of races. Starting with the new guys, Ben Healy is the first new addition to this talented squad, he won the Irish National Championships at the age of 20 in 2020 (coincidence, I think not), and although he had a quieter 2021, he still won a stage with an attack in U23 Giro and finished in podium at Sestola. He already knows everything, the only thing he needs is to be a master in one or two disciplines and he will be the next great Irish rider in World Tour. The next rider in this new wave is Marijn van den Berg, who as I know has no family connection with Julius van den Berg, who also rides for the team. Marijn is a generational sprinter talent, he had great offers on the line after a monster 2021, where he won a one-day race in Novo Mesto, some French stage races and to top it all, 3 sprint stages at Tour de l’Avenir. EF desperately needed a pure sprinter for this upcoming season, and I think they have found the perfect one in van den Berg. Among the experienced youngsters, there are 2 very good time-trialists who have already started to show themselves in other disciplines, as well. The German powerhouse, Jonas Rutsch has been in a good form in 2021, although he hasn’t won a race, he was a superb domestique, had some great time-trials with multiple top 10 results and he started to show significant improvements in classics as well, 11th place at Paris-Roubaix clearly shows his potential in cobblestoned races, too. The main star, though, is Stefan Bissegger. He is only 23, yet, he is currently among the top 6 riders in Time Trials, and if we focus on distances under 15 kilometres, I believe he would be in top 3. Bissegger has been very consistent this season, won 2 TT-s this season + he won a very rainy breakaway stage at Tour of Switzerland, where the finish was after a pretty nasty, 7,5k 4,5% climb. I think the next step for him is to show something in World Championships as well, and to win a Grand Tour stage, the Copenhagen prologue in Tour would be a golden opportunity for him to take Maillot Jaune for the first time in his career.

#14: Alpecin-Fenix

It is really difficult to write any negatives to Alpecin’s 2021 season, because it was one of the greatest from a Pro-Conti Team. The fact that they had 33 victories last season says it all, Jasper Philipsen, Tim Merlier and Mathieu van der Poel, the three stars of the team scored 26 out of 33 wins, so we really need to say they dominated the hierarchy of the team. For the next season, the distribution of the team is perfect, they currently have no riders over the age of 32 and most of them are in their prime age, between 26 and 29. There are two debutants in World Tour level, 20-year-old German Maurice Ballerstedt and 21-year-old Belgian Fabio van den Bossche. Ballerstedt is more of a puncheur-type rider, who can ride very well on one-day races and have a good affinity to time trials, as well, van den Bossche, on the other hand, is more of a sprinter, but also can focus on GC. Their main aim in the first year is to learn and help the experienced guys, I am not expecting anything particular from them. Alpecin has signed two punchy sprinters, whom I think are really good, they just could not prove it in the right team. Aussie rocket Robert Stannard has signed from BikeExchange, where he had a solid season, 6th in an uphill stage in Burgos, 6th in Brabantse Pijl, but somehow you could always feel that he had more potential inside him than what the results actually show. Stefano Oldani, the other recruitment has had a better 2021, with a 3rd place in Tour of Poland, and multiple top 10s in different races, including 3 in Giro d’Italia. Oldani surely signed to Alpecin to earn his well-awaited first pro win and he will get his chances for a victory, but during his first year in the team, he will be the number 3 or even no. 4 option for sprints. As for the non-rookies, Tobias Bayer had a great debut season, which was shadowed by a crash at La Vuelta, but there is an enormous amount of potential inside him, which will manifest itself into podium places, maybe wins in the following season. The absolute star, though, is Jasper Philipsen. I dare to say he was the best sprinter in peloton in 2021. 9 victories last year + a huge amount of top 3s in Tour, winner of Scheldeprijs and Eschborn-Frankfurt classic, Philipsen is a force and he is only 23. Alpecin needs to give him the #1 role in sprint, he showed this year that he is more talented than Merlier and we should be more than ready to see some epic 700W performances from him in flat bunch sprints.

#13: Bahrain-Victorious

Bahrain had an enormous 2021 season, on and off the roads. They had so many nerve-wrecking, enormous storylines that just kept us in our seatbelts and we were entertained by them. The incredible rise of Sonny Colbrelli, the rollercoaster season of Jack Haig, the generosity and rise of Gino Mader or the unexpected surprise, Mark Padun were all among the top 10 storylines into the season. I do not know what can really be expected from them for 2022, but there are some talents that can spice things up in the following years. Jonathan Milan has already raced with the team in 2021 and although for most of the season he hasn’t shown anything particularly great, it must be pointed out that he is first and foremost an Olympic & World Champion track cyclist, and a road cyclist on the second place. He will be a good time trialist, obviously, and a fairly great sprinter, but he needs years to fulfill his whole potential. London-based rider Fred Wright was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2021 season, he did extremely well in the second half, particularly in sprints, but he performed extremely well in the ultimate crazy stage of Benelux Tour to Muur-Kapelmuur, which showed that he has potential in classics & cobbles, hope to see more of this next year. Bahrain signed the U23 Time Trial world champion, Johan Price-Pejtersen from UNO-X who is definitely a TT specialist, he will score some good results in such races, but we have to see if there is more inside him, if he will be a good domestique in his first year, I will be more than satisfied with his performance. The 5-star rider of the team is undoubtedly Gino Mader, the 24-year-old Swiss rider has gradually improved year by year and last year, he was already among the best climbers in the world. He won a stage in Giro, he won a stage at Tour de Suisse, he finished 5th overall with white jersey in La Vuelta, and he is one of the nicest blokes in peloton. The real question is if he can stabilize this performance and if he can produce another great season. My answer would be yes, if he doesn’t get injured, he will be flying on the mountains. I hope Bahrain will give him a co-captain role in Tour, so that he can fight for great GC places.

#12: Team Jumbo-Visma

Now this might come as a huge surprise for some as I didn’t include Jumbo-Visma in my top 10 list, but it has a clear reason: Those, who are under 25 has proved some things last year, but I don’t think they have a) the sufficient number of talents in the WT team, and b) that generational quality is missing and in first 11 teams, many of them has either one of them or as you will see in top 5, both. Bear in mind, that Jumbo-Visma has a Development Team which produces 1-2 great prospects who, at a young age, begin to ride at World Tour level, this is a really great approach in my opinion as they quickly pick up the required pace and lifestyle. But who are these talents? Jumbo’s young core is full of sprinters, who have been impressive in 2021 season. Interestingly enough, the youngest of them, Olav Kooij, seems to be the best talent-wise. He is only 20, but had some great sprints during the 2021 season, with a 3rd place in Gran Piemonte, 2 dominant stage wins in Cro Race, a 2nd place in a sprint at Tour of Poland and a podium in the U23 Road Race at the Worlds. He is a raw sprinter, his technique is already among the most beautifuls in the peloton, he simply needs to find good wheels, good positions and he will surely win more. David Dekker, a former SEG academist was also a neo-pro in 2021, and he started the season in a brutal form, with a green jersey at UAE Tour, but the rest of the season has been mixed. He didn’t get a chance to sprint in Giro next to Groenewegen, but I felt he was left behind a bit, I hope he gets more role in 2022 to showcase his speed. The third one, Mick van Dijke will be a neo-pro this year, him and Marijn van den Berg dominated U23 sprints this year, and in Croatia, he has shown very promising signs in many aspects and areas, I think he will be much more than a raw sprinter – he will be a great help to the team. The only real climber in the youth here is Norwegian Tobias Foss. Foss had a breakout season in 2021, with a first top 10 overall in Giro d’Italia, where he REALLY had some outstanding performances, including a third place in the opening ITT. He can have a shot at Maglia Rosa next year with the first two stages suiting him very well, I hope he will continue this heartfelt riding and sympathetic approach to cycling.

#11: Ag2R Citroen Team

Personally, Ag2R has been one of my favourite teams among the World Tour as their vision is clear, they have a cool jersey and every year they have a victory which will stay as a remarkable one for a few years. This year, they actually had two of them, Cosnefroy’s win in Plouay and Champoussin’s win in La Vuelta both were in the top 20 among the best stages in 2021 so they have really carved their names into the memory lane. I like them due to the fact that they are not afraid to give youngsters the space and time to develop and riders are really grateful for the opportunities they are given. The 2022 young core is very deep and kind of balanced in terms of performance. Nicolas Prodhomme, Clement Berthet, and Valentin Paret-Peintre (brother of his Ag2R teammate Aurelien) are all riders who can have a breakout performance at any point of next season, I would not be surprised if one or two of them could win a stage at a highly prestigious race. Felix Gall, the Austrian climber talent joined the team for this season, he had some outstanding rides last season with a 22nd place overall at Dauphine, although he is not as talented as his fellow countryman at Alpecin (Tobias Bayer), he will have a much better environment for improvement in the coming years (as he has a contract until 2023). Stan Dewulf was flying under the radar for most of 2020 and 2021 season but since August, he has shown a significant amount of development which cannot be unheard or unseen. He finished second in Tour de Wallonie with a monster performance which almost saw him taking the overall victory on his home turf, had a top 5 performance in Vuelta + a breakaway that was almost successful, top 5s in Binche-Chimay-Binche and Paris-Tours and a victory in season-closing Boucles de l’Aulne. Fabulous rides all along autumn, let’s see if he can keep this form for the spring season. Clement Champoussin, the last one in this bloc has finally had his breakout season in 2021, I have waited a lot for this occasion, but he truly proved that he will be a massive climber for whom you need to pay attention in every race. The stage victory at La Vuelta was one of the most epic breakaway win in the last 5 years, but he isn’t only good from breaks, he is a great puncheur finisher, and in a sense, a one-day specialist (4th in Laigueglia, 2nd in Faun-Ardeche), at the age of 23, he needs everything in cycling, his skills and size predestines him to be an all-time great climber, and if he continues to follow this path in development, he will make it.