Joseph Blackmore and Marion Bunel have underlined their status as two of the hottest prospects in cycling after being crowned champions of the Tour de l’Avenir, the world's premier U23 race, on Saturday.
Both the men’s and women’s editions of the French race culminated in spectacular fashion over the Italian border atop the Colle delle Finestre, scene of Chris Froome’s stunning long-range raid at the 2018 Giro d’Italia, and the mighty, partially-gravelled mountain (18.2km at 9%) didn’t disappoint.
Blackmore became the first ever British winner of the men’s Tour de l’Avenir, but not without a fright, hanging onto the yellow jersey by a mere 12 seconds amid a sensational solo from the Spaniard Pablo Torres. Meanwhile, France's Bunel defended yellow in the opposite manner, going on the attack and winning alone by nearly two minutes.
For Blackmore, it was the latest chapter in an extraordinary breakthrough season for the 21-year-old multi-disciplinarian. He has largely focused on mountain biking and cyclo-cross so far, throwing in the British national gravel title for good measure, but he has exploded onto the road scene with Israel-Premier Tech this year.
He started out winning three straight stage races in the Tour du Rwanda, Tour de Taiwan, and Circuit des Ardennes, and then went on to win the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and even place fourth in the elite-level Brabantse Pijl. All this time, Blackmore was part of the team’s development squad, making top-level appearances on a case-by-case basis, but his success saw him fast-tracked to a mid-season WorldTour contract.
Some will question whether existing WorldTour pros belong in the Tour de l’Avenir, but Blackmore is very much still an emerging talent. Either way, he placed second in the opening prologue before taking yellow with victory on the summit finish at La Rosière on stage 3. He lost it the very next day, with Torres winning at Les Karellis, but snatched it back with an ambush on stage 6, in which he made it into a lead group that finished nearly five minutes up on Torres and other key favourites.
He was trounced on the final day, along with everyone else, as the 18-year-old Torres produced an extraordinary performance to win alone by some 3:43. Blackmore was second on the day, coming to the line atop the Finestre - no doubt at home on the dirt tracks - to stop the clock with just 12 seconds of his lead remaining.
“It was super close, but I’m so happy,” said Blackmore.
“I just had to give everything in the final. I tried to follow Pablo at the start but quickly realized it’s a long climb. Torres was riding really quickly and I knew it went high – 2,100 meters [above sea level]. I gave 100% in the final two kilometers but I didn’t want to go too hard, too soon.
“It was about suffering all the way up. I was completely empty by the finish. I gave it everything.”
In the overall standings, Dutchman TIjmen Graat rounded out the podium at 50 seconds.
Bunel soars to new heights in her own sensational season
In the second edition of the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes, it was the French climbing talent Marion Bunel, just 19 years of age, who soared to victory on a mountain more difficult than anything we’ve seen in three editions of the Tour de France Femmes.
In fact, Bunel competed in that latest edition of the world’s biggest women’s race just last weekend, placing a highly impressive 17th overall after finishing just outside the top 10 amid the best in the world on the set-piece summit finale atop the Alpe d’Huez.
Women’s cycling doesn’t have the same junior and U23 pathways as the men’s side of the sport but, like Blackmore, Bunel is already a pro with St Michel-Mavic-Auber93, her Tour de France performance coming after a fifth-place finish at the UAE Tour and a top-10 on the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse - both WorldTour events.
Bunel dominated the four-day Tour de l’Avenir, placing 10th in the short prologue before winning the stage 1 summit finish at Les Karellis. She went into the final day with a slim lead over Canada’s multi-disciplinarian Isabella Holgrem, but took flight on the gravel tracks on the upper third of the climb and won by nearly two minutes, crossing the line with the flag of her native region of Normandie and raising her bike above her head.
“It’s just amazing,” she said. “I was thinking a lot about it overnight, struggling to sleep, because I didn’t want to let this stage slip by, I wanted to finish on a great note – I dreamed of it in fact, but even in my dreams I didn’t think this was possible.
“Arriving on the non-tarmacked roads I didn’t know how I was going to respond. I knew my rival [Holmgren] was a world champion in mountain bike and cyclo-cross, so I was a little bit scared. Normally I like to attack more abruptly, but with the gravel I did it more in the saddle, but it worked out.”
In the overall standings, Holmgren placed runner-up at 2:11, with Spain’s Eneritz Vadillo third, all the way back at 5:16.
