THE ZOOMERS ARE HERE

Alejandro Valverde and Philippe Gilbert may be fighting a valiant rearguard action for Generation X, and in the main it’s Millennial riders like Roglicč and Alaphilippe who are at the top of the sport, but there was a huge breakthrough in 2019 for the Zoomer generation. (If you’re old enough to be confused by this definition, you are definitely not a Zoomer.) The headline act was Bernal winning the Tour de France at the age of 22, but this was not an isolated incident. Pogacčar won the Tour of California and was a confident third in the Vuelta a España at 20; Remco Evenepoel won Clásica San Sebastián and the Tour of Belgium before coming second in the Yorkshire World Championships time trial. (In the TT Worlds, 23-year-old Filippo Ganna was third, so fourth-placed Patrick Bevin, aged 28, would have had silver if it hadn’t been for those medalling kids.)

Elsewhere, Pavel Sivakov won the Tour de Pologne having barely turned 22, Sergio Higuita was second in California at 21 and Iván Sosa was 21 when he won the Vuelta a Burgos.

The reasons for this sudden emergence of young riders are complex. It’s a combination of the kind of talented generation that comes along every now and again, modern training theory simply being more effective at enabling riders to reach their peaks, young riders being given more opportunities and a bit of luck. The interesting questions for the future are, will this current generation of young riders be able to maintain their focus and level into their late 20s and beyond, and will they face ever more hungry young riders who are no longer held back by the perception that peaking happens later in a career?