Miguel Indurain. Egan Bernal. Tadej Pogačar. But also Cian Uijtdebroeks, Tobias Foss and Bauke Mollema. The winners’ list from the Tour de l’Avenir is long and filled with names that later reached the very top of cycling. The race has long been dubbed the U23 Tour de France, and is one of the most important weeks of the year for several of the Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development riders. That also includes Jørgen Nordhagen, who has been a part of the WorldTour squad since this season, after completing only one year at the Development Team.

“If you can step up and win on the WorldTour right away, that’s nice, but for me it’s important to also race against competitors on my own age”, says the Norwegian climber, who enters the race as one of the favorites.

“In a race like l’Avenir, I can further develop my leadership skills and hopefully race for the win, which is important for the future. There are still bigger favorites than me here, but I can start with the ambition of really being in the mix for a top-5 or even a podium result.”

Earlier this year, Nordhagen impressed with strong results at the Tour de Romandie and Giro Next Gen. In both races he grew stronger as the days went on – in Italy he even took the victory on the final stage. It’s a quality he hopes to build on at the Tour de l’Avenir.

“This year I’ve recovered really well in stage races. In the Giro Next Gen my power was actually higher on the last stages, and the same happened in Romandie. At least it doesn’t look like I get worse within a week, so that’s good – also for the future.”

That ability to maintain consistency could prove decisive in the coming week, with the mountain stages clustered in the final half of the race. Particularly day seven, featuring both a mountain stage and an individual time trial on the same day, promises to be spectacular. But for Nordhagen, it might not be a disadvantage – thanks to his background as a cross-country skier.

“I quite like the idea of a double stage with a time trial in the afternoon, because I’ve been used to doing double days from when I was skiing, and I still do them sometimes on the bike. But of course, if you’re super tired after the mountain stage, you’ll feel it in the time trial,” concludes Nordhagen.

As the Tour de l’Avenir is raced in national teams, some of Nordhagen’s biggest rivals will be wearing Italy’s azzurri speedsuit. Like Norway, Italy heads to France with general classification ambitions, and one of the riders tasked with making those dreams a reality is Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Pietro Mattio.

“Well, it’s not easy to be racing against my normal teammates. Especially to be racing against Jørgen, because he is one of the favorites, but Italy also want to go for the GC, so I will be in the middle of that fight,” laughs Mattio, who is riding l’Avenir for the second time.

The fifth-place finisher at this year’s Paris-Roubaix Espoirs won’t be tied down exclusively to the Italian climbers, though. The opening stages offer precisely the kind of rolling terrain where Mattio excels, meaning he has packed both aero socks and personal ambitions, alongside his role in supporting his leaders in the decisive mountain days.

“My personal goals are in the first five stages, because they are hilly but without mountains. So I will try to go for a stage win or join a breakaway. Italy has a really strong team for the GC, so during the last days I will work for them and try to put them in a good situation.”
 

Next year, Mattio will follow Nordhagen’s footsteps onto the WorldTour scene. He knows that adjustment won’t come overnight, which is why he sees this race as one last chance to squeeze out valuable experience from his U23 days.

“I’ve raced with the WorldTeam already, but the level is really high in the U23 category. It’s important to show that I can compete with guys of my own age and to race some finals, because I don’t do that with the WorldTeam yet.”

“Here, I’m a bit more under pressure as one of the older guys on the U23 team. I will try to use that experience of having ridden here before to give some tips for the younger ones in our team, and hopefully come up with some good inputs,” says Mattio.

The Tour de l’Avenir begins on Saturday with a mountain prologue in Tignes. Alongside Mattio and Nordhagen, the start list also includes Jonas Høydahl (Norway), Tomos Pattinson (Great-Britain), Tim Rex (Belgium), Elliot Rowe (Great-Britain), and Patryk Goszczurny (Poland) from Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development.