Trivia question: what does Joe Blackmore and Isaac del Toro have in common with Tadej Pogačar and Shirin van Anrooij?
If you successfully worked out the answer, then you’ll get an idea of exactly why the Tour de l’Avenir is worth paying attention to.
Meanwhile, the women’s race has been dominated by Holmgren and Célia Gery of France, who has won three separate stages.
On top of that, the parcours tends to be top-drawer, always finishing – and sometimes starting as well – in and around the Alps, using some of the climbs bike fans are used to seeing in the Tour de France.
It is often described as being a mini Tour de France, and with good reason – the organise of the race for a long time was the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), longtime organiser of the Tour de France. This further underlined the race’s prestige, and while ASO is no longer the primary organiser of the event, having handed the reins to Alpes Velo in 2012, it remains a financial stakeholder and continues to play a part.
Delve a little deeper though and more differences become apparent. The start list, for example. In the men’s race it is made up almost entirely of up-and-coming riders, many riding in third-tier teams or development squads. The obvious exception is Paul Seixas, the French Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider, who so far has won the prologue and taken a second place on stage five, months after he finished in the top 10 at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
This year sees the first running of a separate road race at the World Championships for U23 women, and with races like Tour de l’Avenir creating events for female U23s too, others may follow suit – followed by the riders and teams.
