2 TTs/Prologues for the GC/Specialists
2? Flattish stages for the sprinters
2 hill stages for the puncheurs
3 mountain top finishes for the climbers
We are ready for the big event for the young riders of the game. Avenir is the race where we really get to meet the stars of tomorrow and for many the first real chance for glory. Last year Leo Hayter won, and the field of former winners include some real legends of the game, including riders like Gesink, Pluchkin, Phinney, Tenorio, Kudus and Herklotz. Maybe we once again will see a future GT winner win this year?
Overall favorites
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Juan Ayuso
68
75
73
71
73
75
72
73
62
62
70
67
68
71
Matthew Riccitello
66
74
70
66
66
74
67
73
58
60
63
65
69
66
Levente Vasko
62
74
69
64
61
74
76
76
65
57
63
67
73
54
Darren Van Bekkum
69
73
71
68
69
71
72
67
54
66
63
72
69
67
Indy Van Vliet
68
71
71
70
71
68
68
66
52
65
66
65
65
70
Kantaphon Kunkumpai
65
71
71
70
64
72
67
75
56
64
70
63
74
64
Mats Wenzel
67
71
71
70
71
72
71
70
60
58
70
65
68
72
While there are other riders who might try to join in on the fight for overall these are the main favorites and there is one who stands above them all. Ayuso is the strongest climber present, one of the strongest TTers and he got both the backup stats and the team to get the title here. His main support in Hefnar could himself fight for a top spot while Rolland is another rider who should be good help early in the mountains.
The strongest competition should come from the Everestin pair of Riccitello and Vasko. They are the 2 best climbers behind Ayuso but will need to attack in the mountains as they will loose A LOT of time in the TTs. The TTs are the place where Van Vliet and Wenzel will try to stake their claim on a top spot this race. They will need to stay with the climbers, hope that Ayuso has some bad days and then do well in the TTs for a strong result here.
Van Bekum is the last rider mentioned here, a strong climber and not that bad of a TTer who might make some noise. Also a honorable metion to Lenny Martinez who is the strongest level 1 rider. He should be back a lot stronger next year!
Sprint favorites
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Tobias Lund Andresen
69
56
58
60
60
70
70
68
61
75
76
57
63
61
Pavel Bittner
70
58
64
69
62
71
72
70
67
74
75
66
61
67
Laurence Pithie
73
66
69
72
71
74
73
71
75
73
74
67
72
69
Ewen Costiou
73
66
69
72
68
71
70
64
66
73
74
68
69
71
Arnaud De Lie
73
63
67
70
62
75
74
67
73
73
79
65
65
62
Fabio Christen
70
63
65
66
66
67
72
66
57
73
75
65
66
74
Ronaldo Laitonjam Singh
70
61
63
64
61
68
74
61
61
73
74
58
67
69
Declan Trezise
74
60
60
59
62
68
73
64
66
73
73
61
67
64
Tim Torn Teutenberg
72
58
63
67
66
68
71
70
68
73
74
66
62
71
Matteo Milan
67
55
59
63
61
69
68
65
63
73
73
62
59
63
A bigger field of sprinters for the 2 sprint stages with Lund Andersen being the big favorite and the strongest pure sprinter, with Bittner right behind him. However we have a really interesting trio in Pithie, De Lie and Costiou with their flat and hilly ability. They could really make some noise as none of the sprint stages are that hard.
After them we have a field of quite a like sprinters who should make this an interesting fight on the flat stages.
TT favorites
Name
FL
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
CB
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Mathias Vacek
68
68
69
69
75
70
68
69
60
64
69
64
69
74
Yoshiki Terada
69
60
61
62
75
69
67
71
57
57
66
66
65
73
Lorenzo Milesi
71
55
58
61
75
73
70
73
71
60
65
72
66
74
Juan Ayuso
68
75
73
71
73
75
72
73
62
62
70
67
68
71
Rasmus Sojberg Pedersen
70
60
65
69
73
67
69
71
61
61
68
70
65
73
Ioannis Varotsos
76
62
64
66
73
71
71
66
63
69
69
72
68
73
Enzo Paleni
67
53
56
59
73
66
67
70
54
58
62
67
62
73
Kristians Belohvosciks
73
60
61
62
70
71
73
67
62
61
68
69
65
75
Fabio Christen
70
63
65
66
66
67
72
66
57
73
75
65
66
74
We have already mentioned Ayuso who is the biggest GC favorite and a good TT rider, but we have several good pure TTers in Vacek, Terada and Milesi present who will hope for a stage win. For the first stage also Belohvosciks might be one to look up for with his prologue
Puncheurs
Thibau Nys
70
70
73
76
67
73
75
69
62
69
74
69
75
70
Aivaras Mikutis
71
68
71
73
72
68
72
68
71
60
72
68
60
72
Gal Glivar
69
68
71
73
66
71
73
68
58
70
70
70
70
67
A last mention to the puncheurs where Nys is the big headline who might even make some noise in the GC. He is by far the best hilly rider here! Mikutis and Glivar are two other strong puncheurs who should look for the possibility of a stage win during the race.
Thanks for the preview, Heine (and no, I didn't change any of your writing, just fixed the startlist table)!
We're here stage hunting with Costiou and de Lie, both should be able to contest in the flat and hilly stages. And maybe Lenny can already show himself in a break or the GC top 10 before he'll be back as our leader next year.
Would be great if Ayuso can make his favourite role come true. He does have a nice team behind him. Vacek and maybe Matteo can maybe go for a stage as well, definitely won't say no to that either.
It's great to see Wenzel with an actual shot of top 5-10. With some luck he can beat Indy van Vliet and Kantaphon Kunkumpai.
Varotsos is already a fairly strong rider, so it will also be interesting to see if he can get a decent result in stage 1-2.
For obvious reasons we are also looking out for Koutounis, Theorpanous, Pavlides, Drakos, Arvanitou and my own austrian talents Schrettl and Hajek - Both of whom will be back next season with a much stronger skillset.
No Greek riders have ever won a stage here, so it was quite interesting to see Theorpanous take one in the 2023 version, while still being in the race here in 2025! In fact he could also be the first ever Cypriot to enter the GC top 10 this season I believe! In that regard, Cyprus still have a bit of way to catch Greece:
We don't have the strongest batch of talents and their only claim of talent is against the clock which is only really useful for the prologue, but we'll wear the colors with pride
Young team here for us. Milesi the best candidate for a stage win. I join SotD in celebrating Theropanous' stage win as also the only Avenir win by a McCormick-affiliated team.
We're here but, other than breakaways, I don't really see our riders achieving too much this year. We've got a lot of history here as a team but it's a step back and enjoy the spectacle kind of year
Tour de l'Avenir
