In 2019 the world of cycling got shocked by some talented youngsters called Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar and Egan Bernal because of their incredible performances on a very young age. In this article we will take a look at the 2020 rosters and predict the next young superstars, in Belgium they would say: 'Who is the next Eddy Merckx?'
If there is one team known to be succesfull with talent its Deceuninck - Quick Step, at the end of this year they had a young German in their team playing a huge role in the late season classics already. His name? Jannik Steimle (23). His transfer is a story on itself, he got an agreement with Corendon - Circus but after Lefevere showed interest he quickly changed his mind and signed with Deceuninck - Quick Step. That decision immediately resulted in a win in the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen holding off Timo Roosen with an impressive solo. His team says he is a sprinter but he is capable of much more, im looking forward to seeing him in classics like Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne and Gent - Wevelgem in the future. Is that gonna be next year already? That remains a question because Deceuninck - Quick Step classics team is really stacked but you should definetly keep an eye at Jannik Steimle in 2020.
Another team full of talent next year will be UAE-Team Emirates. A few Colombian climbers, a Danish time trialer and Jasper Philipsen (21). Jasper is the biggest sprinting talent from Belgium, the 2019 season was his first one with UAE. He started the season with a stage win in the Tour Down Under but after that things never lined up perfectly. He did a full classics season mainly to gain experience. After that he took a bit of rest and then went to California to go for sprint stages, he threw himself in there but it didnt result in another win. UAE was going to ride the Tour the France with their powerful duo Kristoff - Gaviria but unfortunatly Fernando Gaviria had a knee-injury. This opened up a spot for another sprinter/lead-out and thats where Philipsen came into view for a Tour de France selection. He only did the first 11 stages but still managed to get a 5th, 6th and 7th place while leading out Kristoff in some sprint stages as well. Later in the season he got some good results as wel showing how consistent he is especially for someone of his age. His biggest strength is his lack of fear combined with bike handling skills, he just throws himself into a good position for the sprint just like Sagan. For that reason he will not be liked by everyone within the peloton but we fans should definetly expect big things from him in 2020. Sprinting is not just about who has the most power and best aero position, its about timing, drafting, positioning and not wasting energy. Because of that I expect Jasper Philipsen to be able to get a lot more wins in 2020 with his extra experience. But on the other hand UAE is a tough team to be in as a sprinter with Gaviria, Kristoff and Riabushenko as rivals withing the team.
Trek - Segafredo was known as a retirement home to some after their incoming transfers of Alberto Contador, Richie Porte and rumored Vincenzo Nibali but for the 2020 season they switched things up. They managed to sign the Junior TT world champ for 2021 and the Junior RR world champ Quinn Simmons for 2020. Quinn Simmons (18) is from the USA and a pretty allround rider, he completely dominated the Junior races this year. Part of his 2020 season will be finding out where his strenghts are and where to focus on. But he is already training like a pro would just like Evenepoel did. If his uncommon change from Juniors instantly to WT goes smoothly there is nothing holding him back from getting big results for Trek - Segafredo, the power numbers are their. However from everyone on this list Simmons is the biggest speculation just because of his age and lack of experience. We don't know how he will handle the longer stages, more stress and media attention.
Last but not least is Tobias Foss (22), he is a Norwegian talent who won the Tour de L'Avenir this year. In 2020 he is riding for Jumbo - Visma. He is a climber with also a good timetrial in his legs which will help him a lot in the future when targeting general classifications. That's probably one of the reasons he signed with Jumbo - Visma who established a good TT culture in the last few years with riders like Primoz Roglic, Tony Martin, Jos van Emden, Wout van Aert and Tom Dumoulin. With many captains on the Jumbo - Visma ship I don't expect Foss to lead in any of the big races but in the shadow of those who already proved their capabilities is a perfect environment to learn, good riders come fast so it wouldn't be a surprise to see Tobias Foss battling for the win in some less prestigious oneweek races.
Which rider are you looking forward to in 2020?
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