Thursday, February 16, 2012

Here comes the youth!

P. Sagan - M. Kittel - A. Demare
If there is a color that fits cycling right now, I think it's white [no jokes on cleanness]. I mean white for the youth, like the jersey in the Tour. Looking at the recent results it's amazing to see so many riders under 25 in the top.

Especially the sprint finishes show that the up-and-coming riders already have what it takes to beat the elite.

Take a look at the following stages in Tour of Qatar & Tour of Oman.

Tour of Qatar: 
Stage1: Five riders under 25 in the top8 (best 2nd)
Stage5: Seven riders under 25 in the top9 (best 2nd)
Stage6: Six riders under 25 in top11 (best 1st)

Tour of Oman: 
Stage1: Seven riders under 25 in the top9 (best 2nd)
Stage 2: Five riders under 25 in the top6 (best 1st)
Stage3: Seven riders under 25 in the top13 (best 1st)

Riders like Marcel Kittel & Peter Sagan have already established themselves as the future stars of the sport, but don't forget youngsters like the two Frenchmen Nacer Bouhanni and U-23 World Champion Arnaud Demare as well as Italian Andrea Guardini and Russian Denis Galimzyanov. We won't run out of top-sprinters anytime soon!

Writing this piece there are still 3 stages left in Tour of Oman and I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of these would have another winner under 25 years of age.

Update: A few hours after I posted this, Edvald Boasson Hagen won stage 2 in Volta ao Algarve. Another youngster who is already a super star!

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