Tobias Svarre is one of Denmark’s emerging climbing talents, currently plying his trade as a second-year U23 with the ColoQuick Continental team.
Svarre has already looked good at races like Liege-Bastogne-Liege Espoirs and the Giro Next Gen, and will be a name to follow as he gets older.
I called him recently to get to know him a bit better, building on our chat when he was a junior. Read on to find out how Svarre’s career has developed in the years since our previous chat.
“I can say the season has been good and bad. I had a good Liege, and I was good mentally and had good legs in all the races I have done. But I also thought I would get better results. But there is still more time to get better and I will keep going.”
Despite having such a good 2023, Svarre also tells me there was a real step up last year in terms of race distance from the juniors to the U23s, but that he actually has enjoyed the races a bit more at this level.
“Of course it was a big step, probably the biggest was the race distances. Before you were doing maximum 130km, now it can be 200km at times. That was the biggest step. U23 races you also rely more on a team and help each other. You stay and help your guys, it’s not all about yourself. It’s nice to do this, the races feel more real. I actually thought I would do worse last year than I actually did.”
Tobias clearly loves climbing, and that has been reinforced by performances at the U23 Giro. But he still hopes to get even stronger in that area as he gets older and gains more experience in that terrain.
“Yeah for sure the mountains, I’m a light rider and I love to do them. I saw this at the Giro last year, that I’m more comfortable when the road goes uphill than on the flat. I’ve not done too many races with long climbs though. I can be better there than I already am, I can get stronger.”
Svarre is closing out the first half of his season with the pro nationals in Denmark before a break, and he hopes to return to the Tour of Denmark, as well as make his debut at the Tour de l’Avenir,
“Next is the national TT and RR with the pros. There is also a chance to do Tour of Denmark again, like in 2023. For sure you can say I have some big races after my summer break post nationals.”
The highlight of Tobias’ 2023 season was racing his home tour, where he was 17th on GC and 8th in the queen stage, all whilst being just 19 and racing against WorldTour riders, including Danish stars like Mads Pedersen, Mathias Skjelmose and Soren Kragh Andersen,
“It was a very nice experience, the coolest race I have ever done. It was so nice to race against pros like Mads Pedersen. You learn a lot, and I got stronger. I was 8th on the queen stage, that was amazing. I hope to ride it again like I said, and do well again.”
From our chat as a junior, Tobias has not changed from picking the Tour as his dream pro win and even dream race to do. But having ridden some U23 versions of pro races, he has come to find some other races he loves too.
“I’d still say the Tour, it’s the biggest race and it would be a dream to do it one day. I love mountains and stage races, so it’s a big goal. But I must also say that after racing Liege-Bastogne-Liege U23 the last two years, I can say that is also a very nice race and for sure would be my second choice.”
There is no doubt Tobias Svarre is an ascending talent in this sport, and he can go very far, especially developing on a team like ColoQuick. I’m pretty sure a big win is not far away, as well as more GC results too. Keep an eye on Tobias, he certainly has great pro potential.
U23 Cycling Zone wishes to thank Tobias for taking the time to answer my call, and I wish him all the best for the rest of the season and beyond. You can find his Instagram linked here.
U23 Cycling Zone 