Tour de l'Avenir 2022 - SPOILERS
The Tour de l'Avenir starts this Saturday with a team time trial. Annoyingly (but predictably), having had the entire race in their schedule for months, GCN appear to be only showing the final two stages.
Stage profiles are here.
The startlist appears to be pretty much finalised and can be found on PCS.
It'll be fascinating to see if Leo Hayter can do the Baby Giro / Avenir double, a feat that, from a quick check, I believe has only been achieved once before way back in 1973.
I'd have thought his main opposition is likely to come from Lennert Van Eetvelt (Belgium) and Lenny Martinez (France) who were 2nd and 3rd at the Baby Giro respectively, but this race tends to throw up some surprises.
The British team includes Sam Watson (runner up in the recent British RR champs and recently signed to FDJ) plus climber Thomas Gloag who has recently signed as a stagiare for Jumbo Visma and might be a better bet for the GC than Hayter, although his form this year hasn't exactly been stellar.
Some other names of interest taking part include Thibau Nys (much hyped cyclo-cross export signed to Trek Segafredo), Romain Grégoire (signed to FDJ after a phenomenal U23 debut season), the Vinokorouv twins (unlikely to do daddy proud) and Colby Simmons (younger brother of Quinn).
The excellent U23 cycling blog usually post a comprehensive preview beforehand which will be both more comprehensive and better informed than the above. I'll post a link to it when it goes up.
Stage profiles are here.
The startlist appears to be pretty much finalised and can be found on PCS.
It'll be fascinating to see if Leo Hayter can do the Baby Giro / Avenir double, a feat that, from a quick check, I believe has only been achieved once before way back in 1973.
I'd have thought his main opposition is likely to come from Lennert Van Eetvelt (Belgium) and Lenny Martinez (France) who were 2nd and 3rd at the Baby Giro respectively, but this race tends to throw up some surprises.
The British team includes Sam Watson (runner up in the recent British RR champs and recently signed to FDJ) plus climber Thomas Gloag who has recently signed as a stagiare for Jumbo Visma and might be a better bet for the GC than Hayter, although his form this year hasn't exactly been stellar.
Some other names of interest taking part include Thibau Nys (much hyped cyclo-cross export signed to Trek Segafredo), Romain Grégoire (signed to FDJ after a phenomenal U23 debut season), the Vinokorouv twins (unlikely to do daddy proud) and Colby Simmons (younger brother of Quinn).
The excellent U23 cycling blog usually post a comprehensive preview beforehand which will be both more comprehensive and better informed than the above. I'll post a link to it when it goes up.
1
Comments
-
Who is the MTB world champion?RichN95. said:So the contenders are the son of MTB world champion, the son of a world cross champion, the sons of an Olympic road champion and the brothers of current WT riders.
Cycling is relying on a fairly shallow gene pool for its future
None of Nys, the Vinokourovs nor Simmons are likely to be challenging for the GC, from what I know, by the way.0 -
DeadCalm said:
Who is the MTB world champion?RichN95. said:So the contenders are the son of MTB world champion, the son of a world cross champion, the sons of an Olympic road champion and the brothers of current WT riders.
Cycling is relying on a fairly shallow gene pool for its future
Miguel Martinez, Lenny's dad. His grandfather was a Tour King of the Mountains as well.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Didn't know that. Thanks.RichN95. said:DeadCalm said:
Who is the MTB world champion?RichN95. said:So the contenders are the son of MTB world champion, the son of a world cross champion, the sons of an Olympic road champion and the brothers of current WT riders.
Cycling is relying on a fairly shallow gene pool for its future
Miguel Martinez, Lenny's dad0 -
It's a pity, given the vastly increased coverage of women's racing, that the powers that be can't do the same for the sport's future stars.
Despite this being their premiere showcase event, the ASO? seem to have stagnated at just covering the final weekend's Alpine stages.
This, despite potentially the hardest climb of this entire race being on Friday. Thursday's stage looks tasty too with one of those unrelenting, up or down profiles.
From a purely selfish standpoint, I would love to see the final four, not just two, stages."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.2 -
It now seems that Stages 1-7 will be available to livestream on the Tour de l'Avenir website.blazing_saddles said:It's a pity, given the vastly increased coverage of women's racing, that the powers that be can't do the same for the sport's future stars.
Despite this being their premiere showcase event, the ASO? seem to have stagnated at just covering the final weekend's Alpine stages.
This, despite potentially the hardest climb of this entire race being on Friday. Thursday's stage looks tasty too with one of those unrelenting, up or down profiles.
From a purely selfish standpoint, I would love to see the final four, not just two, stages.
https://tourdelavenir.com/en/
Pretty sure that wasn't there when I looked previously.0 -
Original post says it starts Saturday - it actually starts with the prelude TTT on Thursday!
Bit of weirdness about that - it will only be used to award the leader's jersey, the actual time won't count for anythingWarning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Yep. Apologies. Prelude is indeed Thursday with a 4km(!) TTT. First stage is Friday. There's another longer TTT on stage 5.No_Ta_Doctor said:Original post says it starts Saturday - it actually starts with the prelude TTT on Thursday!
Bit of weirdness about that - it will only be used to award the leader's jersey, the actual time won't count for anything
Here is the U23 Cycling Zone Preview.0 -
No worries, it's nice just to have a thread!DeadCalm said:
Yep. Apologies. Prelude is indeed Thursday with a 4km(!) TTT. First stage is Friday. There's another longer TTT on stage 5.No_Ta_Doctor said:Original post says it starts Saturday - it actually starts with the prelude TTT on Thursday!
Bit of weirdness about that - it will only be used to award the leader's jersey, the actual time won't count for anything
Here is the U23 Cycling Zone Preview.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Cycling Weekly have an article on the British tilt at the title.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/hayter-and-gloag-form-two-pronged-attack-for-great-britain-at-tour-de-lavenir
The race got underway today and surprise, surprise, the Dutch won the team prologue by 4 seconds from Norway and GB.
Rather an odd way to start a race I would say and probably so too would the French team, who finished 8th, while the Pays de la Loire team managed 4th."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.1 -
Loe van Belle to wear yellow on stage 1.blazing_saddles said:Cycling Weekly have an article on the British tilt at the title.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/hayter-and-gloag-form-two-pronged-attack-for-great-britain-at-tour-de-lavenir
The race got underway today and surprise, surprise, the Dutch won the team prologue by 4 seconds from Norway and GB.
Rather an odd way to start a race I would say and probably so too would the French team, who finished 8th, while the Pays de la Loire team managed 4th.
I imagine the Belgians had an issue. If their 24th place and 29 second deficit was a genuine reflection of their TTT prowess, the 27.9km TTT on stage 5 would be a cause for concern.
Does anyone know anything of the GB Senior Academy lads? I don't, but was surprised they made it into the team ahead of Oscar Onley. I'm guessing that they are all strong testers and have been selected with stage 5 in mind?0 -
They may have just been taking it easy, as the time doesn't count for GC, the only reason to race is for awarding the leaders jerseyDeadCalm said:blazing_saddles said:Cycling Weekly have an article on the British tilt at the title.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/hayter-and-gloag-form-two-pronged-attack-for-great-britain-at-tour-de-lavenir
The race got underway today and surprise, surprise, the Dutch won the team prologue by 4 seconds from Norway and GB.
Rather an odd way to start a race I would say and probably so too would the French team, who finished 8th, while the Pays de la Loire team managed 4th.
I imagine the Belgians had an issue. If their 24th place and 29 second deficit was a genuine reflection of their TTT prowess, the 27.9km TTT on stage 5 would be a cause for concern.
Warning No formatter is installed for the format1 -
Søren Wærenskjold wins the first stage and presumably now leads the GC, riding away from the peloton in the final few hundred metres. It looked a bit like man Vs boys. The coverage of the final kilometre left a bit to be desired, but hey ho, at least there was coverage.
A spirited effort from the break, caught with a couple of kilometres to go. I thought they were going to go all the way for a while there.0 -
I forgot to to put it on, but here is the YouTube link and it looks as if we may be able to watch it "on demand".
I have it on now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jcDuLmGSrg "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.1 -
Our leader, Søren Wærenskjold, who has been riding for Uno-X since last year, has been tipped to have a future in the classics. This isn't the first time he has led the Tour de l'Avenir. Last year he won the prologue and first stage, but failed to finish stage 4. He was certainly impressive in the finale today.
Some links:
https://u23cyclingzone.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/get-to-know-soren-waerenskjold/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Had_yJyHLc
0 -
33kms to go on stage 2."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
-
In the second stage, Casper van Uden (Netherlands) won the sprint . The Dutchman beat Sebastian Kolze Changizi (Denmark) and Sam Watson (Great Britain). That's consecutive second places for Changizi and third places for Watson. Soren Waerenskjold (Norway) retains the leader's yellow jersey.
A fairly routine sprint stage was enlivened with 10 kms to go when Lorenzo Milesi (Italy) managed to escape from the peloton and join up with Félix Stehli (Swiss) from the break. The pair put up a spirited fight but were caught with about a kilometre to go.0 -
Stage 3 was won by 19 year old Adam Holm Jorgensen (Denmark) who attacked with about 25 km to go. He was joined by 21 year old Petr Kelemen (Czech) and 19 year old Jordan Labrosse (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes). Despite never gaining a big gap, the trio took advantage of a disorganised chase, hampered by a succession of failed attacks, and just held on by a matter of seconds. Labrosse (who is signed to the AG2R U23 team) moves into yellow with Kelemen up to second on GC. Jorgensen had lost several minutes over the first two stages.
Tim van Dijke of the Netherlands failed to finish which may impact their status as favourites for the TTT. Poor old Ecuador and Eritrea (the last two teams in the Prelude TTT) are already down to 4 riders each.
0 -
Thomas Gloag (GB) wins stage 4 and I think will move into the race lead. Details to follow.0
-
He was away in a group of nine, which included four of the Dutch team, we lost the feed for a bit and when it returned, three riders were clear and there wasn't a Dutch rider in sight!0
-
Yep. How on earth did the Dutch manage to lose that? We had no view of the front of the peloton for most of the coverage, but assume that the Brits had been chasing*, which meant Gloag could sit on.andyp said:He was away in a group of nine, which included four of the Dutch team, we lost the feed for a bit and when it returned, three riders were clear and there wasn't a Dutch rider in sight!
Confirmed that he now leads the GC.
*When the camera bike eventually made its way to the front of the peloton, the rest of the GB team were in 2nd to 6th wheel.
0 -
Top 7.
1 GLOAG Thomas Great Britain 2 12:31:49
2 HESSMANN Michel Germany 0:03
3 VAN UDEN Casper Netherlands 0:29
4 KOLZE CHANGIZI Sebastian Denmark 0:30
5 WÆRENSKJOLD Søren Norway 0:31
6 KELEMEN Petr Czech Republic 0:33
7 WATSON Samuel Great Britain 0:36
The next 28 riders are on the same time as Sam Watson including Leo Hayter although he finished 81st on the stage. Presumably, he had an incident in the final 3 kilometres. Hopefully, he is okay.
Some notable time losses amongst the GC hopefuls. Lenny Martinez (France) and William Junior Lecerf (Belgium) are at 49 seconds, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Belgium) is at 1'17 and Romain Grégoire (France) seems completely out of it at over 4 minutes, although I'm not sure that he was ever a realistic prospect anyway. Rudy Porter (Australia) and Jacob Hindsgaul (Denmark) both had a nightmare finishing over 14 minutes down.
Nahom Zerai finished almost 25 minutes down on the stage, but critically inside the time limit which means that, along with USA and Spain, Eritrea are down to 4 riders ahead of tomorrow's TTT. Riding 2 riders down will be tough, but spare a thought for Rosero, Lopez and Obando who will be the only 3 Ecuadorians at the start tomorrow.1 -
Although he has been signed as a stagiaire at JV, Gloag has not had as good a year as he might have expected following 4th at last year's Baby Giro and a good showing in the 2021 Tour de l'Avenir before being forced to retire following a crash, so today's result may have come as a surprise.
“It was not at all planned to go in the break 50 kilometers from the finish. I just followed wheels. It wasn't my type of stage. I didn't expect to win today at all. At the briefing, we said we were going to ride 100% for our sprinter Sam (Watson). So, at the front, I didn't have to make any effort, riding for a sprint finish for Sam. I hadn't won a sprint for years. Everyone was well rinsed and I was lucky to have a little more freshness and that allowed me to win“.
About the yellow jersey. “I will do my best to keep it. I want to enjoy it first and I will think about it later. I'm really lucky to have a team with a lot of riders who have team pursuit experience. Personally, it's not my thing, but I will do my best and rely on my teammates."
1 -
Hayter did crash, inside 3km so given same time. He's fine, according to his dad on twitterWarning No formatter is installed for the format1
-
…0
-
Hindsgaul has had stomach problems and was "totally empty" according to the DSWarning No formatter is installed for the format1
-
Missed it today and YouTube wasn't loading on demand.
It is now and it's actually rained in Southern France."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Not sure you missed much, there were issues with the feed and we were watching the finish line when the key move went in the final 5 kms. When it cut back the final three were away and the gap was being shown as 15 seconds to the peloton, which clearly wasn't accurate.blazing_saddles said:Missed it today and YouTube wasn't loading on demand.
It is now and it's actually rained in Southern France.0 -
Top 10 on stage 5:
1 Germany 32:43
2 Belgium +0:02
3 Norway +0:23
4 Great Britain +0:28
5 Netherlands +0:34
6 Denmark +0:49
7 Czech Republic +0:52
8 Italy +0:56
9 France +1:04
10 Luxembourg +1:08
As a result the top 10 of GC looks like this:
1 HESSMANN Michel Germany 13:04:35
2 GLOAG Thomas Great Britain +0:25
3 WILKSCH Hannes Germany +0:33
4 LÜHRS Luis-Joe Germany ,,
5 STEINHAUSER Georg Germany ,,
6 VAN EETVELT Lennert Belgium +0:35
7 LECERF William Junior Belgium +0:48
8 WÆRENSKJOLD Søren Norway +0:51
9 STAUNE-MITTET Johannes Norway +0:56
10 SVESTAD-BÅRDSENG Embret Norway ,,
Hayter is 13th @ 1:01.0 -
Some brutal time gaps there. Got to question the sense of a TTT in this kind of event.
Ecuador with only 3 remaining riders beat 3 other teams.================================
Cake is just weakness entering the body0
