After the opening months of the season offered plenty of chances for sprinters and Classics riders, as well as plenty of one-day races in Italy, but now the focus really shifts to the climbers and GC riders. The opening GC salvo will be held, as per usual, at the Ronde de l’Isard in France.
This year’s race is a little easier looking on paper than the previous year’s edition, which was dominated by SEG Racing Academy’s Stevie Williams. But we will delve into the parcours later on in this preview.
Teamwise, there are a lot of local French teams, and as a result, most of the top riders come from around six or seven teams. Chambery and Groupama-FDJ Conti represent the home nation, whilst Lotto-Soudal, Colpack, Uno-X and the defending champs SEG offer the foreign assault. There is also a UCI WCC team here, featuring two very interesting Africans.
PARCOURS
Stage 1: Toulouse – Mas d’Azil (145km)
Every year, there is one stage on the race that seems set up for a bunch sprint, and this year it is stage one. The day is not very challenging, with just two third cat climbs to tackle, the second of which is concluded with still 32km of racing to go and is just 4.2km long at 4.3%.
Given how hard this race is, there are not really many sprinters on the startlist. IAM-Excelsior have Giacomo Ballabio to watch out for, and first year phenom Eritrean Biniyam Ghirmay has already beaten some pros back earlier in the year. Otherwise, some faster climbers include Julian Mertens, Cristian Scaroni, Tiago Antunes and Clement Chamoussin. Torjus Sleen (Uno-X) and Ilan Van Wilder are also potential stage winners here.
Stage 2: Salies-du-Salat – Castillon-en-Couseran (136km)
This stage serves up a famous Tour de France climb and another long test, but a long way from home means that unless the race is aggressive, we may see another climbers sprint.
The Portet d’Aspet is listed by La Flamme Rouge as 12.4km at 5%, but is finished by the 55th kilometre of racing. The descent is followed by a short stint in the valley before another cat one climb, the Col de la Core appears, 17.6km at 5%. The summit comes still 46km from the line, although the finish town is uphill on an uncategorised hill, not to dissimilar to the opening stage of last year’s race when Stevie Rhys took the first of his two stage wins en route to the overall.
See Mertens and the other fast climbers mentioned on stage one as names to watch for this stage.
Stage 3: Mirepoix – Querigut (141km)
Whilst any race on the U23 circuit can become an epic, this stage here is, at least on paper, the queen stage, where the biggest GC differences can be made. The opening half of the stage is mostly flat, but the second half is considerably more difficult.
The second cat climb of the Col de la Croix des Morts arrives 75km in, and is 7.4km long at 5.5%. There is no descent, and the next 20km carry on uphill, with the final 6km being categorised as the cat one Col de Chioula.
After a brief descent, the riders take on the biggest climb of the day, the Col de Pailheres (15.3km at 6.9%). The summit is just 17km from home. After the descent, there is a small flat section before the road ramps up for the final 2km or so to the finish line. This stage will really suit the pure climbers, those in form. Foss, Verschaeve, Bagioli, Leknessund and Covi could all thrive here. If on-form guys like Mertens and Scaroni can survive, they can also play a massive role here.
Stage 4: Belesta – Saint-Girons (154km)
The final stage is very interesting, as it has plenty of opportunity to blow the race apart, but could also serve as a quiet final day. There are three cat ones on the menu, and the first two arrive at 62 and 70.5km, so halfway. The Port de Lers is 26km long but averages 4%, but after a short descent the riders bounce back up the Col d’Agnes (4km at 7.5%).
A very long descent follows, before the road ramps up again slightly. Then, with under 40km to go, the climbing gets serious again for the Col de Latrape. But the climb is similar to the Port de Lers, as it is very long (16.8km) but not steep at all (3.6%). The road is all mostly slightly downhill for the final 35km, where a sprint between climbers is probably the most likely outcome.
FAVOURITES
Winner Candidates: Tobias Foss (Uno-X), Andrea Bagioli (Colpack), U23), Julian Mertens (Lotto-Soudal U23)
Podium Contenders: Thymen Arensman (SEG Racing), Viktor Verschaeve (Lotto-Soudal), Clement Champoussin (Chambery)
Outsiders: Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X), Cristian Scaroni (Groupama-FDJ Conti), Alessandro Covi (Colpack Conti)
Joker: Henok Mulueberhan (UCI)
Due to the interesting parcours here, picking a GC winner is not very easy. But our top candidate is Tobias Foss. This was always going to be a huge season for the Norwegian, and he has delivered. Forgetting his debut in a Portuguese one-day race, Tobias was 4th overall in Alentejo, 7th in Wevelgem, 4th overall in the Triptyque, 14th in Flanders and 3rd in Liege. But he really excels in the high mountains. Yes, this race doesn’t have a TT, but Tobias is on a mission to show his class and I believe he can win this race on climbing ability alone.
Due to finishing school last year, we didn’t see Andrea Bagioli in the biggest stage races. So yes, this a little unknown for the Italian. But the San Vendemiano winner should be coming into form now with the Giro just a month away. Plus, he has Covi and Davide Botta here, two riders who can go very deep into the mountains to support the second-year rider. Bagioli loves hard races, and should excel here in his first big test of his GC mettle.
Third overall last season, Julian Mertens will love this parcours. The lack of a summit finish really suits him, and his Ardennes punch really suits his chances of winning stages or securing bonus seconds. His team is brilliant too (more on them later). Also, he has been good all season, with 6th in Paris-Troyes, 12th overall in Circuit des Ardennes, 7th in Liege, 4th in Circuit de Wallonie and 10th in Tour de Bretagne. That shows the Belgian can perform in a wide variety of terrains, which will help him win this race. This is a golden opportunity for Mertens to win a GC, let’s see if he takes it.
SEG Racing Academy have the brilliantly talented Thymen Arensman to lead them, but his shape is a little unknown. An early season collarbone break saw his start delayed, and since then he has done a lot of good work for the team, but has no real persona results. But if last year’s l’Avenir runner up has got form, a very good result is doable here, which would really get his season back on track before Roubaix, Giro and beyond. Antunes is a capable deputy and is a legitimate stage threat, and Alex Evans will be an interesting rider after excelling in Australia, we need to see how he adapts to European GC riding.
Ninth in last year’s Peace Race, Viktor Verschaeve has jumped across to Lotto-Soudal U23 and has shown form already. 11th in Circuit des Ardennes, 2nd in Liege and 5th in Circuit de Wallonie all show e is arriving into peak shape for the hilly races. A strong climber, Verschaeve also has a strong team with Thomas Vereecken, Laurens Huys, Maxim Van Gils, Mertens and Van Wilder. That is a brilliant team. This is a race Verschaeve can truly win.
Chambery have two cards to play, but I feel Clement Champoussin is their best hope for this race overall. 5th in last year’s l’Avenir, his form has been a little off so far this year. But he was 9th last year here after showing not much early on, so, another year wiser, there is good reason to expect a good result here. His speed in the sprint make him a legitimate candidate for bonuses and stage wins, and a podium is an achievable result. Failing that, young American Matteo Jorgenson will be asked to take over, but this may be a little while too soon for him to try and podium a major U23 stage race.
Andreas Leknessund cracked the top ten here last season, and recently told me he wants to go better this season. Again, like teammate Foss, the lack of a TT hinders him, but his climbing legs should still see him right up there. He has a pretty poor sprint, so may struggle for bonus seconds, and Foss has largely outperformed him in the stage races so far. However, whilst I think he will help his friend try and win this race, I still think a very good GC ride is doable here.
Another really interesting rider to watch is Cristian Scaroni. He is vey fast and was recently 12th in Liege and then 3rd overall at the Tour du Jura. The Italian has shown glimpses of high mountain ability, but the final year will love the lack of a summit finish. He can definitely win stages and secure bonus seconds here, but the question is can he get over the Pailheres on day three? If he can, he can win this race. His teammate Kevin Inkelaar was 2nd overall at the brutally tough Valle d’Aosta stage race in 2018, but was very quiet both before and after that result. His results this year have been good but nothing special, so he needs a good rider here to show his class once more, given this is also his final year at this level.
Future UAE-Team Emirates rider Alessandro Covi has been a bit quiet this year. he has mostly done his best work in the one-day races, but 8th in last year’s Giro suggests he could go well here. The likeable Italian is pretty fast too, so can be in the hunt for bonuses. Whilst Bagioli is the clear leader, there is no reason why last year’s l’Avenir stage winner cannot do a good GC here.
The UCI’s World Cycling Centre are not just fielding Ghirmay, but also Henok Mulueberhan. The second year U23 was 10th overall at the Tropicale in February and 12th at the Tour du Rwanda. His two European race days have been average, but they were not in the mountains. If he can find his feet here, he really could place anywhere overall. His fast sprint will further help him here. However, his team is pretty weak and his ability to race well in Europe is unknown. But this is a great chance to see him in action and determine if he can play a role later in the season at l’Avenir.
U23 Cycling Zone 