Part III (bonus)

Part III (bonus)

As an addition to my list of top juniors to watch in 2014 i decide to write a little about two kids that really showed off in 2013 and arouses interest because of their wins. Of course, they weren’t even juniors last year and they rivals came mostly from their own countries (including amateur events of course) so it’s really hard to say if they will be able to confirm their capabilities on higher level. But why not just remember their names and see what they can do ?

Adrien Costa (USA, 1997)

Young American, just like his older mate Zeke Mostov, will be a part of Jamis Bergman u23 team (that actually is a team for 16-23 years old riders, not only u23). Adrien is National Champion in novices category both in road race and time trial. In 2014 he already won, second year in a row, traditional January the 1^st climb event, Mount Saint Bruno Hill Climb. Other notable results are coming from Tour of Gila (for amateurs) where Costa finished twice in top ten (on stages two and three) and he was the best (stage two) and second (stage three) from guys u20. Another solid result came from Mt Hood Cycling Classic, five day stage race for amateurs. Costa finished fourth on stage three and he was second from all under-20 riders (only Logan Owen was better). In final classification he was 11^th (again, only Owen was better in u20 category). During Fayetteville Stage Race, Slipstream-Craddock team totally dominated and Costa was second in road race and time trial which gave him second in GC (behind his teammate Jordan Cullen, ahead of Zeke Mostov). Last but not least I should mention that young American won six other events in States (where he beat his older well known countrymen like Mostov, Oien and Binatena). Can’t wait to see what Adrien Costa can do on international level.

Nicola Conci (Italy, 1997)

Conci winning Coppa d'Oro

Other rider I would like to write about is young Italian, Nicola Conci. What was the reason I decide to write about this kid ? It’s number of win he managed to get on Italian scene in 2013. That’s 19! The number and the mention of Italian scene probably doesn’t mean anything to you so here are examples for comparision: Lorenzo Fortunato won 13 in 2012, Federico Zurlo won 14 in 2010,  Valerio Conti won 9 in 2009 and Luca Wackermann won 10 in 2008. As you can see none of them were close to the number that young Nicola achieved. And the names I mentioned probably show how important the ranking is. I guess there is no point to write about all the wins and guys he beaten (especially that all those events were for novices) but it’s good to mention that fourteen of those events Conci won solo, some with over a minute difference, and there were all kind of events, from spirinting to climbing with time trials also. Now it’s time to show off in Lunigiana and BasilicataJ

Here’s Nicola winning solo Coppa d’Oro 2013: