Julius Johansen. A year behind Bjerg in development, but should still leave his mark in 2018. That still leaves five or six Danes for Fus to name.
I think that while Julius Johansen will definitely make his mark this year, we shouldn't expect too much from him in his first U23 season. I'll happily let myself be surprised though.
I expect more from Bjerg (who's already delivered) and Egholm for this season.
My five or six Danes:
1995:
Kasper Asgreen: doesn't need an introduction. Definitely pro material, probably stayed with
in the hope that the team will step up to at least ProConti next season. If they don't, he ought to look elsewhere - he absolutely has the potential for a pro contract at a foreign team.
1996 (last U23 season):
Jonas Vingegaard: was stopped in his tracks by a broken leg in 2017, but is now back and will be a contender for the Tour de l'Avenir, with a pro contract for 2019 definitely possible
Jonas Gregaard Wilsly: almost certain he'll get a pro contract for 2019, just has to figure out where he wants to sign
Rasmus Bøgh Wallin: while not as far as Vingegaard or Gregaard yet, he's a versatile rider who won a UCI race last year. Raced the Tour of Denmark the past two years and should improve on his result there even more this year. Will probably have a hard time getting a pro contract with a non-Danish team, though, as he's just not very much on the teams' radars.
1997:
Mathias Kjeldsmark Christiansen: Racing for Sydkysten Cycling (as far as I know) and working part-time as 'handelselev' (commerce/business apprentice??). No results to speak of so far, but apparently did some big riders in a training camp in January and impressed Kamp enough for him to say "I'll have to talk to Riis and Skelde". We'll see what comes of that.
1998:
Jakob Egholm: junior
in Qatar, last season was a year where he could get used to the longer & harder races at elite level; after
folded, he was picked up by Riis & Skelde for
There are even more U23 riders one could keep an eye on -
Price-Pejtersen,
Rodenberg,
Salby,
Hulgaard,
Mathias Norsgaard Jørgensen (the brother of
Emma),
Kron,
Stokbro,
Søren Malling Siggaard (the brother of
Christina),
Honoré,
Niklas Larsen,
Jesper Schultz ...
Some excellent and, to me at least, previously unknown picks here (who is this Foss kid, for example?), especially because the topic of U23 is not as well covered online as I would sometimes like.
For real? Have you lived behind a rock last season?
He's THE hot sh*t in Norwegian cycling. With
he will have pro-level support, and he can climb. Tour de l'Avenir battle vs. Vingegaard coming up.
