Daniel Clark didn't start out wishing to be a bicycle racer. His love was for football (the real kind, not the American version). His childhood in Michigan was spent chasing a ball rather than riding a bike. However, a series of concussions cut short his ability to play football...and he was soon on his bike looking to expend the excess energy of youth in a less dangerous way.

The first amateur clubs wanted to help Clark become a great climber, seeing his light frame ideally suited him to that role. However, Clark had no interest in a style of racing he called 'boring'. His heart was set on the purest form of bike racing...the classic. Where savvy and race experience count for just as much as pure physical power.

Clark therefore set about improving his attack and short climbing skills, working on his sprinting, and trying desperately to train for the pain of the cobbles. His environment in Michigan provided plenty of opportunity to work on bumpy terrain...but the gravel roads are no substitute for the pave.

Optimistically looking to the future, Clark hopes his quick acceleration, light frame, and ability to enjoy pain and suffering will serve him well in the professional peloton. The future awaits...and for now, Clark is dreaming big.

Early Steps: Jhon was born in a rather small family in Gualacea at the 20th of April 19 years ago. Together with one older brother he was sharing the full attention of his family. Already in his young age he had the privilege of having a TV at home, where he followed the big names of Ecuadorian Sports: Of course Carlos Tenorio was one of his early heroes, as he not only was part of the first Ecuadorian WC team ever in 2002, he also was the main man when the team promoted to the Round of 16 at the WC in Germany in 2006.

But it wasn't all about football. When Jhon was that kid that was all about sports, the big hero of the country was world champion and olympics silver medal winner Jefferson Pérez. While Athletics caught the interest of Jhon more and more, it wasn't really about walking or running. He was more and more attracted to the popular sportsmen from Colombia or Venezuela, when the likes of Rujano, Pena, Serpa and Laverde conquered the world, especially at the Giro. But it would be other shining stars that really brought him into cycling.

Cycling Path: Soon the young gun started to take his own first footsteps. He had a bike pretty early, as distances were quite long and parents were hard working. The downside of this was having to be quite self-serving pretty early in his life, the upside though was that his family could finance him a quite decent bike even for european standards. And he absolutely fell in love with it.

By that time it was pretty sure though that he'd join a cycling club pretty soon. And he did so. Though, as you might have guessed, not everything ran in line with the expected of course. We're not talking about a road bike, we are talking about a proper cool mountainbike. And with that he could step into the paths of his real hero: Emilio Falla.

Soon he was riding competitions, having the full support of his family. And he was damn good. On national level he was quite good at first, but with his determination and a great trainer he became a world apart from the regional and even national competition in his age. Even his role model, Falla, shouted out his name on the nation bmx championships in Quito in 2013, where young Garcia won the U18! competition.

But by that time another shift happened. Falla wasn't as successful as he used to be anymore, the big names from South America were the Brazilian Renato Rezende or the Colombians with Carlos Oquendo and Carlos Ramirez. Even on his young age he was the #3 in Ecuador behind Alfredo Campo and Emilio Falla already.

That was when he got the opportunity to broaden his horizon. A certain Movistar Team had started a developmental program in Ecuador. Colombia hat these youth development structures for long, and with the rise of the youngsters like Rigoberto Uran, Sergio Henao, Carlos Betancur and Fabio Duarte they were lightyears away from the rest. However, also in Ecuador something started to form, and the Team Ecuador was built.

This team, led by Byrom Guama at that point, built some structures to capture talent. While this didn't work out too good in the beginnings, the project had some success over the next months. And one of the first prospects in this project was Jhon. He was offered a development contract with the development team of the project which slowly turned into the Movistar Team Ecuador.

And with it he had the opportunity to ride his first UCI level races. The Vuelta Kolbi or the Vuelta Dominica were one of his first races on the proper road cylcing world. Not forgetting his roots however, as he still appeared to win the junior BMX championships with ease and even got some footsteps into cyclocrossing, which was part of the developmental contract he signed.

It didn't take long until he first rode the Vuelta al Ecuador, eventhough the race these days only had an amateur character. Still, Jhon had some success, especially finishing 3rd from a breakaway on one of the late stages. This may have been the last convincing move to become finally part of the Movistar Team Ecuador, just at the age of 17!

Together with the likes of Jefferson Cepeda, Santiago Montenegro and Wilson Haro , all only 1-3 years older, he rode a very nice calendar. Also, he got invited for Nations Cup races with Ecuador for the first time. While he had a nice calendar with Team Ecuador, racing in Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and even the USA, racing the nations cup was on another level.

From the whole Ecuadorian squad there was one guy that stood a chance: Jonathan Narvaez. The others, including Jhon, flew off the back so fast you couldn't even tell. Especially on the flat races. Jhon just wasn't used to racing that hard all the time, and not just at the end of the race or a climb. But he tried to adapt the european mentality in a way only Narvaez could do so far.

He heard of many Ecuadorians - well, even more Colombians but also many of his teammates or former ones - that tried to do so in the past. But most of them failed. There was one Ecuadorian that made it over: Richard Carapaz. He achieved the dream of becoming a professional cyclist in road racing. And after the season there were good news for Narvaez too. After signing a contract with Axeon, rumour had him in lines with a potential QuickStep engagement already.

That left Jhon with a certain decision to make: He now was at Team Ecuador, but that wouldn't earn him the money he needs in his life. Should he follow the path? Or was it time to jump over the sea to Europe? Yeah sure, there was also the chance of riding professionally in Colombia. But would they want an Ecuadorian with their number of strong youngsters?

Thinking about being just a 19 year old guy he postponed the decision. After finishing his season with Team Ecuador he turned his attraction a little bit more on BMX riding. He still got it in him, so he gave it a go at U23 races and even starting in the Copa Latinoamericana in Bolivia. Also finishing 2nd at both Sierra Centro and Orient - Amzonico behind Campo and another 6th place in San Jose at the Copa de Naciones Costa Rica made him gain some serious reputation in the BMX world, as that meant that Jhon would climb in the Top 50 of the BMX world standings at the age of 19.

Gaining in confidence step by step made him looking into the future a lot more comfortable. Training for the next season together with Byrom Guama and Jonathan Klever Caicedo determined his preperation. Secretly always waiting for the right phone call - of yourse he wouldn't hire an agent and do it himself - Jhon had planned to ride for Movistar Team Ecuador, eventhough there had been interest from Medellin - Inder, Team Bolivia and EPM-UNE.

Even a Belgian cyclocross-team, we are not allowed to call their name here, invited him to join a young riders program with chances on the Belgian amateuir circuit on the road and on the dirt. But then there was the one option that turned everything around. Austrian equipe MyBike-Stevens had offered a developmental contract, which was similar to the cyclocross one, but actually on UCI level on both ends.

Enthusiasticly Jhon packed his bags to travel to Austria, aiming to finalize the details of what should be a real cycling contract! Or would he? Just as he turned on his phone stepping out of the plane, there was a message left for him. It changed everything...

Personality: Calm, and always well prepared. Jhon is that acribic worker that tries to find the perfect race scenario right before the race already. Has some issues with adapting to surprising race situations. Loves the tropical whether. Loves dirt. Get's bored when a race is too flat for too long. Absolutely open to take planned risks. Sunnyboy on the outside, not so on the inside. Not the best out of rest days. Doesn't like quick changes of flat and mountain stages. Loves difficult profiles, where the race is hard to predict. Trash Talker.

Cycling character: Jhon is a pretty lightweight climber. When the road kicks up, it's the steeper the better. Unrythmic climbs, rough punches, steep ramps. Give him that and you make him feel comfortable. He's never sat on a time trial bike. His acceleration is very quick, though he is yet to have a proper sprint on board. There are a lot of questions raised on his recovery and stamina. But coming from the BMX background he knows how to sustain an effort quite well, especially with changing pace all the time. Also, for a South American he is a straight out awesome descender and technique expert. On the flat roads he has to work on his engine, though the potential should be there.

Favourite Teams/Riders/Races: Movistar Team Ecuador. Several riders that determined his youth, f.e. the likes of Uran and Henao. Androni-Giocattoli with all there young south Americans. Narvaez, Klever, Carapaz. Joaquin Rodriguez. Jose Rujano. The Giro is the big race for him. Otherwise it's about the Vuelta of course. But a huge priority are the home races in South America. His dream is having a GT finishing in Ecuador, either a new South American one or even the Giro/Vuelta. Zdenek Stybar. Emilio Falla. The BMX Worldcupraces in South America. Caja Rural.

Rivals/No Gos: Young Colombians. The arrogant Belgian cyclocross youth. Time Trials. Echolons. Wout van Aert. The overrate borefest which is the Tour de France. Vegans. Former Dopers. People that do high-altitude training camps in Ecuador but can't ride a bike properly. Elbows. The rotten apples.

Hector César Ernesto FERN�NDES HERN�NDES was born in Cali, Colombia on 14 may 1998. He was seen as a gifted cyclist early on, doing tricks on his bike that few adults could match. His parents pushed him to become a professional cyclist, and Hector liked cycling so he didn't mind.

At first, it was hard for him to specialise, he won all local races whether they were flat, uphill or even offroad. The only thing he didn't like were time trials, as he couldn't motivate himself to ride without competition. He loved cyclocross and mountainbike, but his parents wanted his to pursue a road career, as he would get more money that way. They also discouraged him from riding on the cobbles, as no sane person would ever organise a race on cobblestones.

With parts of his passion repressed, he joined his first junior team. They turned him into a puncheur as he could ride the bike uphill fast and had a good acceleration. And of course because all of Colombia was mountains and hills. Having won even more races, Hector was offered many professional contracts, but he had one team that stood out.

Learning from another allrounder Boasson Hagen, becoming a part of the legendary Mark Cavedish' sprint train, and most importantly, no real puncheur leader. He had a chance to grow in the ranks and maybe one day realise the secret dream no one but him knew about: becoming the first Colombian to win Paris-Roubaix.

At a young age, Jørgen was an aspirering football player. Making all state three years in a row and being the midfielder of any coachs dream. But, during a regular season game while 14 years old, he got tackled in knee height. Blowing out his knee and ending his season early. During recovery, his physican recommended swimming and cycling as a road to recovery.

During his sessions on the bike, Jørgen fell in love with the art of cycling. And later that year, he entered a local club and basicly ending his hopes and dreams of playing for Manchester United on Old Trafford. To winning the Tour de France overal. However, after several years of competing on the bike. He came to the realisasion that his specialty was on the tougher and more technical roads rather then long high gradient climbs.

A new classic rider has been born.

Alunderis turned up out of nowhere for last year's everyman race of the Öztaler 5500, where he soon left everybody behind and and won by over 25 minutes with an estimated power output that caught the interest of professional teams. At the press conference he claimed it's due to his all-meat-diet. He would not disclose any further details about himself or his past, but there seemed to be no motor hidden in the bike and he passed a doping test without raising any red flags.

From the desert city of Ouarzazate comes Morocco’s possible first three week stage prospect. Known for its cinema studios, Ouarzazate is about to contribute with another star and Hollywood-esque story, although off frame. Pedalling from an early age, he started riding in the twisty turns of the Atlas Mountains, training almost everyday on Africa’s longest summit range. At 15, he started winning several local races, including one at the top of the Col du Tichka. Abdessabour caught eye of several top cycling teams, including the obvious MTN-Qhubeka, now Dimension Data, interested in attaining one of Africa’s biggest prospects in years. Talks did start and the team even lent some bikes and an opportunity to travel to Europe so that young Elias could have better training conditions. Still living in Morocco, and after some months in Europe where he kept showing his potential, it’s time for the star in the Moroccan flag to fulfill his dream and write history for the Northern African country. Will it be with Dimension Data or Sky? We’ll soon find out.

Riding in the fields of Flanders, there was little else that Arnout wanted to do in life than to become a cycling legend. Filled with the legends of Johan Museeuw and Peter van Petegem, AVA was a huge supporter of Mapei and Lotto-Domo in the past alike. But the sentiments of his father - an ex-doper fallen from grace in the belgian public - and family were much more anxious. Having seen what professional cycling does to you and how it may ruin in the long-haul, his father preferred that Arnout focuses on his school success and follow a more traditional career trajectory.

In the junior races, Arnout was one of the also-rans in his beginning until he got a late spurt in growth and put on some additional muscle mass. This gave him an edge in the wind and turned him into a work-horse for the peloton. He developed the strength to split the bunch in the flat but was first reluctant to channel the same tactic in the hills. Over time, as the distance of the junior races became longer, he became a dominat figure of the junior races, usually dueling it out with the same five faces all year. He relied on his strength in the Bergs but was a quick learner when it came to the finesse of tactical games and grand strategies within a race. Some would call it wheel-sucking but the belgian junior scene is an unforgiving one where only victory counts, where is no margin of error. At least, Arnout was well equipped in playing this game in all his forms and had the lungs to go the whole distance. Still, this was just a beginning and there was a lot to learn on and off the pavé.

Now that Arnout has finally finished school, he and his parents made an arrangement: He gets one year, perhaps two years, to see how it is for him. Clearly remembering the words of his father, Arnout was hasty to employ his father as his agent as well. But something in his father wanted to return to the world of cycling as well. He was concsious of what this implied but Arnout didn't want to break his father's heart for his love to cycling.

Currently Arnout is one of the young belgian hopefuls. Having experience in junior races and cyclo-cross as well, Arnout aims for the smaller classics and wants to see where his strenghts are. While Ronde and Roubaix are mostly the stuff of his dreams, he hopes that smaller flanders and ardennes classics won't be out of reach for too long, and has taken interest in the career path of olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet and former World Champion Philippe Gilbert.

Arnout speaks flemish dutch, french and english.

Well before Cancellara, Kwiatkowski and Stybar made the rolling white roads of Tuscany famous, Rocco Bianchi Campagna rode them with his older sister on their parents' old bikes. Those beautiful evening rides past the vineyards of Tuscany were truly something else. Growing up on the vineyards in Chianti was a great way to live.

Rocco was a kind, but sometimes hotheaded, young boy who loved football and cycling. The obvious hero when he was quite young was Bettini - a Tuscan hero. As he got older he continued to play and love football and cycling but the former was a sport and the latter a hobby.

However, when his sister got into bike racing, Rocco Campagna followed her, first in mountain biking, where he had great success - the technical and punchy stylings suited the young boy well in the local and regional levels. However whilst Eva Campagna stuck to the mountain biking and loved it, Rocco wanted to take his cycling a step further once he became a teenager.

So, on the encouragement of one of the runners of the mountain biking league, he bought a cheap old Colnago and started competing on the tarmac as well as the dirt. He kept up both but he found himself excelling on the road. He won many races on many levels and though he kept up mountain biking (and still does when he can), his true talent (and passion) was for the road. Not necessarily tarmac if Rocco had any say. He loved them Tuscan back roads on his road bike as well.

As Rocco got older he found great success on the junior circuit, not always at the front but impressing with attacks and some consistent scoring in both Italian races and in the most prestigious junior events. As part of the Ride to Glory he's done enough to secure a contract for next year... the only question is: where?

Type of Rider: Full of panache! So far his spirit of attacking has undermined his chances of top 5 or top 3 success on the hard roads of the junior circuit. Campagna doesn't have too much of a specialty yet but has shown an affinity for one-day races - not to say just classics, he's won stages in stage races a lot but he is better at riding to win in the purest form than to ride for GC in the mountains - where he can also perform well, but on the Elite level it'll be a different matter for everything.

The hills, flats, cobbles and even some sprints have also shown to be Rocco's strengths and so, even though he hasn't beaten the big names of the future just yet, he's got a lot of options and could prove a useful domestique or even baroudeur in his neo-pro year. Loves to attack and has a good punch and racing mind. Will attack to the death, but not in the mindless Voeckler style, more in just a never-say die but still tactically ok style Pfft Happy to service teammates and is a loyal teammate on and off the bike.

Instinctive racer but also likes to know the course before-hand, particularly in technical classics and stage-races, where he can plan for stages to target or KoMs to chase if he has a free role.

Very good technically and with great energy over long days, tough days and multiple days alike. A bit lighter than your average cobbler means Roubaix can be tough on him but the Flemish classics, with their punchy and technical stylings, are his jam. But still could develop into a more bemuscled flat rider, or even more of a Gilbert or even Valverde type of rider - even though he's not going to be as good as them in all likelihood.

Oh and hates TTs. Duh.

Personality: A kind-hearted guy mostly but, despite being well-meaning, is probably too quick on the draw when he or a friend/teammate is insulted/mistreated, and doesn't pick his fights well at all, which gets him into sticky situations with rivals and, probably at some point, the UCI. Makes him a doggedly loyal teammate and friend. Loves his family above all, and grows to apply that to his team. Hates arrogance but can respect confidence. Also hates dopers. Self-assured but not overconfident.

Favourites: Loves Strade Bianche most of all, plus the Giro, San Remo and Lombardia in his home country of course. Absolutely in love with the Flanders classics and basically all of cycling as a big cycling romantic and nerd. As a part of this, he has a lot of respect for the history, not to say he can't appreciate positive changes in globalisation and not-doping. Also means he loves Le Tour even if he has to agree it's got boring recently - the Giro is definitely the best in Rocco's eyes. Doesn't really have a favourite team as their pasts can all be disillusioning - more about the people than the teams for him.

Modern heroes are Bettini, Stybar, Gilbert, L. Deignan, De Gendt, Jensie, Voeckler, et al. Has a huge respect for the heroics of older riders, his favourites there would be Fondriest, De Vlaeminck and Henri Van Lerberghe to name a few. Kind of likes Valverde and Contador also in modern times, but would like them more if they weren't goddamn dopers. Chiappucci and Kelly too, of course.

The road is his favourite cycling discipline by far but still loves MTB and has dabbled in CX. To Rocco you just can't beat the heroism and romance of road cycling though.

Levente born in Romania, in a town called officially Odorheiu Secuiesc (hungarian translation: Székelyudvarhely). This little town was famous about its futsal and handball teams, so Levente started football and handball trainings early from 5 years age. In 2009 hes parents applied for double nationality (hungarian), because of hes ancestors. At the age of 14 he obtained a football scolarship in the near county center, Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda). Living in the another side of the town, Levente rided with a bike to hes school and after that to the training center. Besides the football trainings he joined the local Tusnad Cycling Team. He made an advantage of hes very good body condition and started to podium almost all the races where he entered. Mentored by Novák Károly Eduárd, a fellow hungarian minority paralympic champion, at 16 years age he quitted the football academy to concentrate more in hes growing cycling carreer (already had problems in football because hes height). After graduating he moved to Budapest to be a trainee in the Pannon Cycling Team. After two months he beated uphill all of hes teammates, including the experienced riders like Hollo Botond or Simon Peter. The future is bright, just the perfect contract still to come.

Born in the capital city of Amsterdam, Levi has never known life away from his country's capital. From an early age, his favourite toy and his favourite activity involved his bike. He would go out on long rides with his friends in the outskirts of his hometown, leaving in the morning and returning after sundown. Growing up, he was very competitive, and was always up for a race whenever anyone mentioned it. The high-speed finishes of sprints or he huge effort of major climbs did not interest him. He felt at home in the pack, leading them through bumps and feeling the wind in his hair. He could ride well in the wind, and never felt the need to 'hide' in the pack. Many a times, in races for his local club, he would be successful in setting a high pace and dropping riders from the back, especially on windy days. He was also often tasked with leading out the team's sprinters, when the team did not have enough support for the latter. He loved the freedom his role gave him, often going away on lone attacks at the start of races, knowing fully well that he might get caught later, but enjoying the suspense and the tiny chance of surviving with relish. He is now ready to take the next step into professional cycling and has already signed a contract with Team Sunweb for the coming season in the RTG. The perfect team player (because HE IS GROOT) finds the perfect team to start off his professional life.

Harry inherited his sporting genes from his mum Stella, who was a promising swimmer but could not follow her passion due to family circumstances. She was keen that Harry should get the opportunities she missed. Naturally Harry's first sport was swimming, trained by his mum he performed well in local galas often winning on his favourite backstroke. Harry grew up in Surrey and was inspired to start cycling after being taken by his dad to watch Bradley Wiggins win gold at the 2012 Olympic Games on his home roads.

The combination of swimming & cycling meant it was natural for him to give triathlon a try and he had quite a bit of success at junior level. As time went on his performance on the bike outshone the other two disciplines and he decided to focus on cycling, his mum was a bit disappointed when he dropped swimming but supported his choice.

Physically Harry is big, tall and strong, he developed into a powerful rider with a fast finish. Club rides over Box Hill showed Harry could also power up a short climb. At junior level Harry would manage a win in a reduced bunch after a tough parcour but didn't quite have the speed to compete with the pure sprinters. He had to develop a tactical sense as the other riders did not want to pull him to the finish and found he had the reserves of energy needed to close down attacks at the end of a race. With a surname of Stanley and an ability to cut through the field for a win, Harry got the nickname of The Knife.

Encouraged by his mum Harry now wants to make the jump to the professional ranks and hopes one day to join Team Sky and emulate his hero Michal Kwiatkowski by winning the Road World Championships & MSR. He would also love to win his home race the Ride London Surrey Classic but fears he might not have the top end speed.

Born in Leuven 27/11/1999, grown up in Boonen era, most popular sportsman in his boyhood years in Belgium, lead to approach "Max" to cycling.
Started to race thanks to another cyclist that would become a Pro star, less crowned but very popular in Leuven: Jasper Stuyven, that gifted him the first bike, an old little one suited for 10/12 years old boys, in same year he won Paris-Roubaix Juniors. He started a great esteem relationship with Jasper, and become one of his closest supporter. Now that Max is close to a Pro contract, his dream is to race together with his idol.
He is a good all-rounder, but too heavy to follow best climbers. In youth categories demonstrate to be a willing teammate, and with hard work he is used to bear, found some personal role, raising his power that favored him on short steep hills and cobbled roads. Unfortunately often is not taking best strategy, and this is the reason of his miser showcase.
Max raced also in local cyclocross and cross country races, but didn't explode same love found on road races, but he is going on with a parallel program in these disciplines, finding them helpful for his bike handling skills.
Hopes are to find a contract in a Belgian low-profile team for first years and make some experience to get visibility from top teams that are pointing to classics.

Andrey Yanakiev was born on 17 June 1999 in Varna, Bulgaria. His parents are also sportspeople - his father, Todor, is former professional swimmer, while his mother, Aneliya, is former volleyball player. So being born in a sporting family, naturally Andrey, as well his younger sister Dariya (who is nearly 2 year s younger), took interest in sport as well. But neither of them will practice the sports of their parents. Dariya began practicing rhytmic gymnastics at the age of 6 with the hope to represent the next "Golden Girls" generation of Bulgaria. While Andrey got hooked to cycling after watching the big cycling events on television.

At the age of 10 Andrey entered Cycling Club Cherno More - the major cycling club in Varna. He was competitive right off the gate - winning the Republican Championship 4 times in the U16 class and twice in the U19 class. Around the same time the major teams in the country (like CSKA, Levski and Hemus) offered him a move to Sofia, but Andrey stayed in Varna. But another opportunity rose - Philipp Meyer, a world class manager, offered Andrey his managerial services and help in finding professional cycling team. Andrey agreed and at the age of 17 he went for Germany, riding for NRVg.Luisenstadt 1910 Berlin. Now Andrey is pursuing his dream of becomming the greatest stage racer ever.

Donald is the much more disciplined and less flamboyant nephew of sometime cycling entrepreneur Willie McRettin. While his interest in cycling was inspired by his uncle but he has always chosen his own path. His hero is the Flying Scotsman, legendary TT maverick Graeme Obree on whom he bases his independent streak.

Donald loves the TT because it requires the singular commitment of a lone rider. His absolute focus means Donald tends to be dismissive of those who don’t display the same rigor he demands of himself. Perhaps with maturity he will learn to relax a little which will also make him a more popular teammate on the bus.

Tornike grew up as a drug dealer for Georgian mafia, using bike to sell and getaway. A local good samaritan was once robbed by Tornike, and he noticed his incredible ability to accelerate and get out of harm's way on his lil bike. Not wanting to ruin youngster's life, said person suggested Tornike to join local cycling club and it all has gone swimmingly for him ever since

Jean-Claude Meyer was not born into a cycling family, and had little knowledge of the sport until the Tour de Luxembourg came roaring into the small commune of Diekirch with Fränk Schleck at the helm. The young boy stopped to watch the Luxembourger fly past only to be met with the surprise of the peleton chasing after him a minute later. Young Jean was amazed by the speed, and the smallest seed of a dream was planted.

In the years that followed the youth would spend much of is spare time on a bike, or otherwise glued to the screen. First watching the Schleck brothers, Andy triumphing in the Tour and Fränk the National RR Championship. With there retirement his focus shifted to the young Bob Jungels, who was quickly emerging as the next great rider from Luxembourg. As Jungels twice won the Tour's white jersey, Mayer entered the junior ranks. Across a handful of years in grew into one of Luxembourg's top prospects and, now at the age of 19, is looking to sign his first professional contract.

Poor Jesus grew up in a country that loves football and doesn´t care for anything else. However, since his mother Maria gave him a toy bike when was only 2 years old, he had one love: cycling. There are a lot of mountains and hills in his country, and even though he is not terrible at climbing he has been specializing in riding solo since he first bought a second hand bike at the age of 13. The reason being is he started riding in a local team soon after acquiring the bike and fell very hard twice in only a week. He´s afraid anytime he has to follow anyone´s wheel or be in the middle of a large peloton now, poor poor Jesus.

He loves riding solo so much he wins every local TT by minutes due to his impeccable time-trial and physical abilities. He´s worthless at sprinting though, as it scares him too much. Apart from his dreams mentioned above, he hopes to be part of a team winning GT´s by playing an important role in the TTT´s. He has no favourite team and just loves cycling and has massive respect for cyclists in general, but he does hate teams with no history who just spend millions to give their sponsor a good image.

The young South African prodigy, is ready to step onto the biggest stage in cycling. With its power in the sprints, the dream is point jerseys in the big grandtours. In addition to his sprint, he is durable on climbs so he can survive the worst mountainous days. Growing up without much money in the family, he sees cycling as a gift in life.

Born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains in Asheville, North Carolina, Xavier Houston never considered a career in professional cycling until one of his high school soccer teammates challenged him to beat his Strava time up Mount Mitchell. Houston had ridden the local climbs regularly in cross-training, but had never heard of Strava before. The 17-year-old Houston beat his teammate by over 15 minutes and posted a Top 100 all-time ride on the infamous climb on his first Strava ride.

Of course, there were plenty of doubters who said the crafty Houston cheated and borrowed an E-bike on that day. Others genuinely believe he has the raw natural talent to become the next great American climber. One thing is certain, that result remains as Houston's first and only Strava ride.

Houston claims, "I'd rather ride with my heart on my sleeve than with data on my handlebars."

Now you know a little about my story, and how it all started with my professional career. I'm Rudolf "Ruedi" Pieren, 18 years old, living (and grown up) in the beautiful village of Adelboden, Switzerland.

Being (unfortunately) my parents' only child, I have always been working on their farm, run by our family since several generations. It's a work I always loved to do, although it's really hard.

Like all boys up here, I was always dreaming of becoming a professional skier. And I was pretty strong. During summers, we mostly trained on the bike - being on the road or on gravel, in the mountains. That was fun, too.

However, all my hopes of getting a pro skier were crushed the day I had that horrible ski accident. My cruciate ligaments suffered most from it, and the doctors recommended me to stop competitive skiing. The knee just didn't have enough stability anymore.

And that's where cycling came into play. During the summer activities, I got to know Joel Suter, a professional cyclist from Frutigen, the village just "down the hill". He helped me to get started in the local bike club, and we did some training rides together. My passion for cycling only grew from then on.

Of course, I participated in a few local races whenever I had time to do so. I mostly did mountain bike races, given that there aren't that many non-gravel roads around Adelboden. My training rides are mostly up and down - meaning that both climbing and downhilling are among my main strengths. When I did farmer school, I mostly went by bike - to my Dad's dislike.

I'm not a pure climber, though, as I'm pretty muscular due to the farming work. Which is a disadvantage on the climbs, but a plus for tempo riding on flatter roads. At least that's what my coaches told me. And now, I'm here. Ready to sign a contract as a professional athlete. Although it's the "wrong" sport, a dream is coming true. Can it be? Can it really be?

It all started with a tricycle. A birthday gift from his parents he couldn’t get enough of and from which he had to be pried for meals and sleep. Then his grandfather taught him how to ride a bike and the same thing happened again. While other children kicked a ball or played their games he preferred his bike rides across the roads of the town or on the slopes around it. At home he was glued to the stories, pictures and videos of Marco Pantani, Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador.

But his relationship with his idols was bitter-sweet, while he savored their style, demeanor and victories the dark shadows of doping left him disillusioned and disappointed. That and the fact there was no cycling club around his home town made him chose the rides together with his father, training on his own and finding his own path. They raced and enjoyed their time together at MTB stage races such as Titan Desert or Appenninica, but it was at Andorra Epic Series where he caught the eye of a Spanish scout.

He was invited to join the Spanish junior team of Quadis Trek - C.C. Sant Boi and after consulting carefully with his father he did just that. However, the timing was not perfect in the least. With the COVID pandemic hitting the world he was left with only a couple of months of training with the Spanish team and only with a brief plan for an uncertain future. He still managed, towards the end of the year, to race with his teammates at Vuelta al Besaya, Vuelta a la Subbetica and Cursa Ciclistica Llobregat and it seems that was enough to draw the attention of the professional cycling teams.

He sits now with a few offers on the table and ponders his future. The childhood dream is still there, strong and healthy, and it seems this is the next step to make it a reality. He envisions himself in the grand races of the world and dreams to be the first Romanian at Tour de France after 85 years, joining the riders who did that 1 time in history, Mormocea, Tudose, Hapciuc and Tapu. Not only that, but he dreams of raising the hands in victory on the mountains of France, Italy and Spain, of wearing the yellow, pink and red jersey and, why not since the dreams can grow as much as they wish to, winning the 3 GTs and maybe winning them all in 1 year. Something no one has achieved.

Coming from a large family in a busy community Seánie Coss always sought solitude. By nature the young boy and man was always at his happiest when alone.

Cycling was a natural fit but still that annoying “teamwork� stuff was a drag. Then one day as a young boy watching the Tour on TV Seánie noticed that the riders were cycling on their own. He asked his father what was going on and was very interested to learn this was a “Time Trial�.

And so his path was set...

He dreamed of following Irish cyclists down through the years who looked to France for a start.

He learned to tolerate others but he grins and bears the flat, the hills, cobbles and mountains waiting for his chance to strike against the clock.

Growing up in Beit Shemesh, the son of 2 Americans who moved to Israel, so a dual-citizen Israeli-American dreams rode hard on the very flat roads he grew up on and one day hoped to make a big result while wearing the Israel jersey. Thrilled to see an Israeli based team become a huge name in the sport also made him extremely happy and made him want to ride and succeed for them one day.

As a child, Bobson's family bounced around the backwoods of the Northeastern United States, between upstate New York and New England. He becomes acquainted with riding his bike on all types of terrain this way. As Bobson emerged as a teenager in the local crits his family would drive hours to, it became clear that despite his smaller size, he did not have the skillset of a climber or puncheur. Instead, his trademark attribute was his versatility on subpar road surfaces.

One trait defined all the places he lived as a child, and that was poor road surfaces. He grew accustomed to riding on severely cracked, uneven pavement from a young age, as well as obstacles like dirt and gravel roads. When he raced an amateur criterium that used part of the Tour of the Battenkill course at 16, he soon found that this was not just a coincidence. The skills he had practiced his entire life translated to the cobblestones - at least as much as he could tell.

From there, he made it his dream to make it to Europe and put himself to the test. Like most American cycling fans, he had grown up only knowing the Tour de France, but by the time he turned 18, all his eyes with focused on the spring cobbled classics, where he sees his future in the peloton. The dream: Paris - Roubaix. First to be there, then to compete, and finally, to win.