Vuelta 2024: Preview of the youth classification favourites – an open battle between the best riders of the future

The youth rankings are set to be exciting this year. While in recent years there has often been one clear favourite, there are now several youngsters looking to go white. Who are they? Cycling Looking forward!

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Top winners in the youth category Vuelta to Spain
2023: Juan Ayuso
2022: Remco Evenepoel
2021: Gino Mader †
2020: Enrique Mas
2019: Tadej Pogacar

Previous edition

Due to the surprise time trial victory of the DSM-Firmenich team last year, Lorenzo Melisi, also in the red jersey, was able to enjoy the lead of the youth classification for one day. A day later he lost it again to his compatriot Antonio Piccolo. After the first mountain stage on day three, the favorite Remco Evenepoel took over the jersey. He was also expected to take the overall victory.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. First there was the young French talent Lenny Martinez who tasted white for a few days. When Evenepoel took the jersey back after the time trial on day 10, it seemed that glory had been restored. However, during the flight over the Tourmalet, the Belgian fell completely through the ice. Juan Ayuso – another great talent – ​​took over and would not relinquish it to white.

Lines

The official rules in the Vuelta a España technical manual state that all riders born after 1 January 1999 are eligible for the youth classification. Sprinter Arne Maret (21 January 1998) is the oldest rider to compete for the white jersey. Britain’s top talent Joshua Tarling is the youngest of the group at 20 (born 15 February 2004). There are initially 56 young riders who can claim the white jersey.

Favorites

Without the absent defending champion Juan Ayuso, UniPublique is looking for a new owner for the white team. In this mountainous edition of the Vuelta a España, the contenders for this classification must be able to climb well. Although there are more than 36 fixed time trial kilometers on the program, the biggest difference will ultimately be made in the mountains. Who digests that better?

Can Rodriguez shake off his bad run? – Photo: Cor Voss

INEOS Grenadiers offers not one, but two origins to start this Tour of Spain that will compete for the white colour. We choose the most consistent as our favourite: Carlos RodriguezThe 23-year-old Tour rider has been known as Spain’s new hope for years, alongside outgoing winner Ayuso. Rodriguez has competed in three Grand Tours in his career so far, with seventh place in the recent Tour de France being his “worst” result.

The Spaniard is also a winner, as he always wins in a single season. In addition, he finished second in the final classification of the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this year and won the Tour of Romandie at the beginning of May. He also finished fourth in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Only in the Tour was he colorless, while it was thought that Rodriguez could take a step towards the podium due to his performances the previous year. A second chance at the Vuelta?

Thiem Arnsmann’s last chance to claim final victory in the youth classification – Photo: Ekoi

And if it proved difficult for the Spaniards again, so did the British. Thimene Arnsman In the ranks. In the last three rounds he has completed, he finished fifth in the 2022 Vuelta and sixth in the 2023 and 2024 Giro d’Italia. The 24-year-old Dutchman also knows what it means to have a strong three-week run. But as with Rodriguez, INEOS Grenadiers will be hoping to take the next step.

In this respect, it is a proven concept, as Arnsmann is doing the Giro-Vuelta double for the third year in a row. Since then, he has finished 18th once (when he decided to take stages in the 2022 Giro last week, despite being in a good position in the world rankings) and has thus finished sixth twice and fifth once. Last year, he had to leave the Vuelta on day seven after a difficult start. He broke his collarbone in a violent fall.

Tiberi won the youth classification at the last Giro – Photo: Cor Vos

Victorious Bahrain aims high in this Vuelta. Antonio Tiberi They go to the final podium. Then you will also quickly reach the possible final victory in the youth classification. The 23-year-old Italian is more than just a good climber, but as a former junior world champion he also has an excellent time trial. With eighth place in the Tour of Catalunya, third in the Tour of the Alps and fifth in the Giro, the Bahrain Victorious team will certainly not send their cat.

At Lidl-Trek they split their leaders between the various Grand Tours earlier this year. For example, Giulio Ciccone and Tao Geoghegan Hart will be in the Vuelta, but they are not the riders who need to secure a good classification. It is Matthias SkilmozThe 23-year-old Dane is having a very strong season, including fourth place in Paris-Nice and third place in the Tours of the Basque Country and Switzerland.

More and more teams are giving talented Tour riders the chance to lead the way in a Grand Tour and the Vuelta is often a great opportunity for that. DSM’s PostNL team opts for this too. The best talent gets there Max Paul Opportunity to improve. He finished seventh in the UAE Tour in February, but broke his elbow in Tirreno-Adriatico. He returned in the Vuelta a Burgos, where he immediately finished second behind Sepp Kuss.

While Paul has already proven himself to be a talented climber and time-tested expert, Lenert van Etvelt Show the latter. However, the 23-year-old Belgian has also been given the lead role. The Lotto Dstny rider is the next in a series of top Belgian talents. At the beginning of this year he won the UAE Tour. Shortly afterwards he was injured in training and was out for a long time. Now he is back at his best. Last weekend he finished third in the Clásica San Sebastian.

All six of the riders mentioned above enjoy driving. This brings pressure, but also the freedom to pursue your own opportunities. It has happened. Cyan Oitdeprix Meaning too. The 21-year-old Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike finished eighth in last year’s Vuelta and seventh in the Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year. He was fifth in the Giro until his retirement. He can certainly do it, but leader Kuss can be sure that Uijtdebroeks should help him.

In this case, the Belgian has lost his free role and achieving a good result in this arrangement seems less likely. This applies in any case. Isaac Del ToroThe 20-year-old Mexican talent won the Future Tour last year and things have been going fast since. In his first year as a pro he finished third in the Tour Down Under, fourth in Tirreno-Adriatico, seventh in the Basque Country and 13th in Switzerland. He is here mainly to learn in the UAE.

Isaac Del Toro has come into this season strong as a pro – Photo: Cor Voss

Logically, because the Mexican has Joao Almeida, Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty, Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler and Jay Fine as teammates. But to be fair: his debut year shows similarities to Tadej Pogarar’s in 2019. He then finished third in the Vuelta. It should be noted that the Slovenian only had to put up with Fabio Aru at that time, so Del Toro had a whole army ahead of him. But maybe he will take the bull by the horns.

Red Bull-BORA-hangrohe also brings a strong team to the start. They can play with strong riders like Primož Roglic, Alexander Vlasov and Daniel Felipe Martinez (second in the last Giro d’Italia). Behind them, a former biathlete also rides Florian LebowitzThe 23-year-old German broke through this year with a third place in the Tour de Romandie, a silver in the German Road Championships, and an overall win in the Romanian Tour of Sibiu.

Florian Leibowitz in the new kit – Photo: Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

The last star in this preview goes to Valentine Barrett PainterThe 23-year-old Frenchman rode a strong Giro d’Italia, winning the stage and finishing 16th in the final classification. There he rode – just like in the Vuelta, by the way – in the service of leader Ben O’Connor. However, the pocket climber from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale will want to show something, because from next season he will have fewer opportunities to do so as Remco Evenepoel’s assistant.

strangers
There are still a lot of talents active in the upcoming Vuelta and who are eagerly awaiting it. From Belgium and the Netherlands, this mainly goes to William Junior Lecerf (Soudal-Quick-Step) and Gijs Leemreize (dsm-firmenich PostNL), but the best results in this classification are not (so far) in line with expectations. This also applies to Robin Thompson (Groupama-FDJ), Willy Berhe (Jayco AlUla) and Darren Raffert (EF Education-EasyPost).

However, it is also possible that the last star in the preview went to someone else. Think about it. Giovanni Aleotti (Winner of the Slovenia Tour), Pablo Castrillo (5th in Slovenia and 7th in Burgos) and Filippo Zanna (Eleventh in the Giro). The biggest The black horse However Matthew RiccielloThe 22-year-old American from Israel-Premier Tech is having a strong season, including a fifth-place finish in Switzerland. He can and wants to get a seed here.

Riccitello also finished 12th in the UAE Tour and 6th in Sibiu – Photo: Cor Vos

Favorites by WielerFlits
**** Carlos Rodriguez
*** Thimen Arnsman, Antonio Tiberi
** Matthias Skilmoz, Max Paul, Lennert van Eetvelt
* Sian Wigtdeprex, Isaac del Toro, Florian Lebowitz, Valentin Barrett-Painter.

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