Welcome to the second part of review
Lorenzo Fortunato (Italy, 1996)
Italian rider Lorenzo Forutnato (Work Service San Lazzaro) scored seven wins last season including general classification in Trittico Veneto after finishing second in the queen stage just behind Riccardo Verza. Other important result on the Italian domestic scene was a stage win during Tre Giorni Orobica where Lorenzo also finished eighth overall. On the international level Fortunato scored several high places but no wins actually. He started well in May where he was eighth in La Piccola SanRemo. Later after fairly anonymous performance in Course de la Paix (47th GC) Fortunato showed his class in other event from Uci Nations Cup, GP General Patton. He was one of the protagonists on both stages finishing fourth and second which gave him third place in general classification and green jersey in points competition. Finally, Lorenzo confirmed his class as a classic specialist with sprinting abilities by finishing eight in World Championships in Ponferrada. In 2015 Fortunato will ride for Italian amateur team Gs Mastromarco.
Damien Touze (France, 1996)
Young Frenchman had pretty decent year with huge amount of top ten places in various races but lacked a big win. The only win on international level came from Tour de l'Abitibi where Touze won fourth stage around Malartic. Top ten places in three other stages during the race helped him to take ninth place in general classification. At the beginning of the season Touze was one of the favorites in Paris Roubaix juniors and proved the expectations by finishing fifth. Later he barely missed stage win in both Le Trophée Centre Morbihan and GP Général Patton by finishing second on the opening stages in both races. Next year Damien Touze will ride for one of the top French DN1 teams, CC Étupes which developed riders like Adam Yates, Warren Barguil or Thibaut Pinot. He will focus on his sprinting abilities and could become of the main sprinters in the team.
Kristoffer Halvorsen (Norway, 1996)
Halvorsen's season was ruined by a virus. He started his season in great way by winning in Knesselare in Belgium and finishing second in Volta Limburg Classic where Norwegian Team filled the whole podium with Blikra on first place and Tobias Foss on third. Later, Halvorsen managed to finish Paris Roubaix in 24th place and disappeared totally. The good news is that Kristofer will ride for Team Joker in 2015 and he's still considered as one of the top talents in Norway despite almost no results last year. With his sprinting abilities and big engine he can develop into a rider with similar characteristics to Alexander Kristoff or Thor Hushovd.
Emiel Planckaert (Belgium, 1996)
Emiel, younger brother of Baptiste Planckaert, didn't manage to take a win on international level last year but his season was fairly good considering amount of top ten places he achieved. He started well in March when he scored sixth place in Bernaudeau Junior in France. In April he took three podium places in smaller races including win in Rund um Düren. Later came the best result in uci races which was sixth place in GC of Le Trophée Centre Morbihan with second place on the third stage where he was beaten by Filippo Rocchetti in two-man sprint. Another decent result came from Oberösterreich-Rundfahrt, stage race held in Austria, where Planckaert finished third in overall. But the best month for young Belgian was for sure August which started well in Ronde van Vlaanderen where Emiel finished ninth before taking same place in GC of Liège - La Gleize and three wins in smaller races in Belgium. Finally Planckaert finished 13th in Worlds road race and a week later he grabbed his sixth and final win in amateur races in Heestert. Next year Planckaert will ride for Lotto Soudal u23 and should continue his develop as a classic specialists in hilly courses.
In the next few days you can expect review of season achievements of Adrien Costa and Nicola Conci.
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