In the cycling world, several changes take place from time to time. New things become old, one sponsor replaces another and veterans retire for young cyclists to grab the wheels.
2021 has been no different. Though the previous year was disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic, a good number of your gems have found their way to the WorldTour and women’s WorldTour in 2021.
To start with, Neo-Pros aren’t first-year pros. Instead, they are categorized as under 25 cyclists who have just signed their first contract with a WorldTeam or ProTeam. As a result, second-year pros are also allowed.
In this article, we will be looking at 5 young cyclists in 2021 that are tipped to join the list of the greatest cyclists of all time.
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), 22, 1.57m
No other cyclist could be the first on this list aside from Tom Pidcock. The highly valuable British youngster signed a three-year contract with Ineos last September and he is guaranteed to be a success.
Tom Pidcock has been a Paris-Roubaix champion at both junior and u23 levels. He has also won the junior world time trial championship and the Tour Alsace. In cyclocross, he has been the U23 global and European champion. He is a two-time U23 UCI Champion too.
He didn’t slow down at all in 2020 as he went on to win several medals including the U-23 cross-country mountain bike World Cup, U23 cross-country world championship, and the eMTB.
Megan Jastrab (Team DSM), 19, 1.73m
Megan Jastrab is one of the youngest cyclists at this year’s Women WorldTour. She is a track specialist that joined Team DSM straight from the junior ranks. Also, she has been a junior world champion on the road and at the Omnium.
Her other successes on the road include winning gold at the junior Healthy Ageing Tour, junior Trofeo Binda, junior national championship, and Yorkshire in 2019. Her success is as sure as making a profit at casinos without wagering requirements. So, even if she didn’t race on the road last year, her new team was already convinced about her abilities.
In addition to racing with Team DSM, Megan has also represented the United States in 2021.
Diego Camargo (EF Pro Cycling), 23, 1.7m
Diego Camargo used to be a member of the Colombia Tierra de Atletas-GW which is a cycling team from Colombia. However, he recently became the country’s latest export to EF, a US cycling team that has a partnership deal with the Colombian government.
Despite that, Diego’s contract at EF Pro Cycling was well earned. In November 2020, the youngster took first place in the Vuelta a Colombia. He also beat 3x champion, Òscar Sevilla, to the pro race title.
Interestingly, the last cyclist to claim both the U23 and pro title at Vuelta a Colombia in one year was also a Boyacense, Oliviero Ricòn. He went on to have an incredibly successful career and EF will be very pleased with their investment if Camargo can follow his footsteps.
Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo Women), 19
Van Anrooij built a solid reputation as an excellent time trialist on the junior circuit in cyclocross racing. She was a part of the Cécémel youth team and has also been very successful while racing cyclocross as a member of the Telenet Baloise Lions Squad.
Additionally, Van Anrooij has won winners medals at several cyclocross races in addition to the junior national and European time trials. She was also a runner-up at the Yorkshire Worlds.
She went on to win the very first junior women’s tournament at the cyclocross worlds. After that, she had a stagaire stint at Trek-Segafredo during which she was able to convince the team to hand her a contract for 2021.
Though she’s very young, there is no doubt that Van Anrooij is heading to the very top.
Xandres Vervloesem (Lotto Soudal), 21, 1.84m
The Ronde de l’Isard is a stage race that takes place in the southern French Occitanie region. It is one of the most intense U-23 races on the calendar. As a result, it is considered to be a ground for unearthing cycling gems. Some of the high profile names on the list of the race’s past winners includes Denis Mechov, Philip Deignan, and Pavel Sivakov.
In September 2020, Xandres Vervloesem joined this prestigious list by winning the Ronde de l’Isard. His reward for winning the five-stage race was a promotion from the U-23 team to the senior team.
Before then, he was very successful at the junior level and got a move to Sunweb’s development team in 2019. Unfortunately, he had an unsuccessful spell due to a kidney infection.
Final Thoughts
Several young cyclists have joined the WorldTour in 2021 to inject more excitement into the sport. Some of them will find their way to the top while some will be there to make up the numbers. However, the youngsters mentioned in this list are the ones to watch in 2021 and beyond.
