Cycling: youth in power in the great Tours
The Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart, young winner of the Tour of Italy 2020. REUTERS / Stringer
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
In a sport where experience and maturity are often necessary, it is young shoots who have taken power in the Tour of Italy with the Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart and in the Tour de France thanks to the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar.
Will the phenomenon continue?
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"
There is a change of generation, it's clear,
" admitted the Italian Vincenzo Nibali, accustomed to the podiums on the Tour of Italy (Giro) during the last ten years.
Second in 2019, Nibali had as objective a third Giro after 2013 and 2016. Sunday October 25, the shark of Messina concluded the 103rd Giro d'Italia in a disappointing 7th place overall.
"
I had to face a group of young climbers whose performance I applaud, starting with the winner Tao Geoghegan Hart
", explains the Italian champion, 35, one of the few winners of the three Grand Tours in history. cycling (France, Italy, Spain).
A new trend
Is this linked to the 2020 season turned upside down by the coronavirus and conducive to the adaptability of the youngest?
The pandemic has probably accelerated the phenomenon and the observation is there: young people have taken over the Tour de France (Egan Bernal in 2019, Tadej Pogacar in 2020) and, now, the Giro.
Behind Tao Geoghegan Hart, 25, is Australian Jai Hindley, 24.
“
It's a huge step forward in my career and it's three weeks that I will never forget.
What next
?
I do not know yet.
I want to give myself a big tour for my goal, maybe the Giro to find the pink jersey
, ”he said.
Vincenzo Nibali's quest for a hat-trick on the Giro may be very complicated.
Just like that of Chris Froome, 35, on the hunt for a fifth Tour de France (Grande Boucle) like the illustrious Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
The Briton was already 28 when he won for the first time in 2013 on the Great Loop, when Bernal was only 22, and Pogacar 21!
An astonishing precocity.
“
It's a new trend.
Before, we used to say that we had to spare and let young talents mature.
We made them ramp up over several years and this is visibly called into question
”, explains to RFI the Frenchman Jean-Christophe Péraud, second in the Tour de France 2014 at 36 years old.
For example, in 2011, the Australian Cadel Evans won the Tour de France during his 34 springs.
The following year, Briton Bradley Wiggins was already 32. With the same number of years, his compatriot Geraint Thomas distinguished himself on French roads in 2018.
Emergence of new talents
Today, Geoghegan Hart comes at the right time to become the standard bearer of British cycling in place of aging stars Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, who left the Giro as leader after a crash.
As for Jai Hindley, he embodies the emergence of new talents alongside two 22-year-old riders who have splashed the last two Grand Tours, his Swiss teammate Marc Hirschi in France, and the Portuguese Joao Almeida in Italy with 15 days in pink and 4th in the final ranking.
"
I am curious to see how they will register in the long term because to be at this level, they necessarily had to work a lot in the junior category
", asks Jean-Christophe Péraud.
Will the careers of these champions last less?
Will they be able to repeat the same performances in the years to come or have they burnt their wings in a sport where we are used to saying that we are in full possession of our means around the age of? 28 years ?
As a reminder, the Italian Damiano Cunego, who won the Giro in 2004 at the age of 23, never climbed back on a podium despite his following 20 participations in the three Grand Tours.
But the case of the Spaniard Alberto Contador contradicts this example.
El Pistolero won his seven Grand Tours from the age of 25.
“We
will need a little hindsight to analyze all this,
” concludes Jean-Christophe Péraud wisely.
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