JULIUS JOHANSEN

The Danish road and track specialist is a former junior world champion

First thing, who’s this? You might remember the now 19-year-old Julius Johansen from back in the World Championships in Bergen in 2017. The young Dane won the men’s junior road race in quite some style, attacking on the hilly course before soloing away to win the rainbow jersey by 51 seconds.

He sounds strong to race like that. What sort of rider is he?

Unsurprisingly, Julius was known as a time trial specialist as a junior which is partly how he opened up a gap so big at the Junior Worlds. He races on the track, which is where having a big engine comes in handy. He’s won two gold medals at the Track World Cup in the team pursuit and has a European Championships silver medal in the omnium.

How’s he fared on the road?

Last season he won the Danish U23 road race title and followed it with a stage win and the overall at the Olympia Tour - past winners include Servais Knaven and Lars Boom. Now in his first year at U23 level, he’s continued that consistency, finishing second in the Tour de Loir et Cher in France this April. Yet, Julius’s most impressive result was fifth at the Tour of Denmark last summer.

The Tour of Denmark, isn’t that a 2.HC race?

It is, and last year’s race was packed with WorldTour and ProContinental level riders while Julius was just 18. An eye-catching fourth place in the stage 2 sprint, behind winner Wout Van Aert, moved him up to fifth overall, before he came 10th in the pan-flat, 19km time trial on stage 4. It was enough to earn him the best young rider’s jersey and ensure his name made some headlines.

What does the future hold?

Julius is in his second season with ColoQuick, a Danish Continental team which has helped kickstart a number of Danish pro’s careers. While he’ll be racing on the road the rest of 2019, Julius’ goals are fixed inside the velodrome for the near future. His aim is to get selected to ride on the track at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he’ll still only be 20, before turning his attention to trying to go professional on the road.