Lampre-Merida eyeing up talent at esteemed British junior team
VCUK's alumni includes Adam and Simon Yates, as well as Hugh Carthy
Italian WorldTour team Lampre-Merida are looking to cherry pick the best of emerging British racing talent thanks to strengthened links with established junior team VCUK.
The northwest team, which has kickstarted the careers of current professionals Adam and Simon Yates, Hugh Carthy and Richard Handley, shares a clothing sponsor with Lampre: Champion System.
The two teams have a working partnership that is now in its third year, with Lampre pursuing the best of young British talent.
“If we have a rider who is good enough, we can basically pick up the phone and speak to Mauro Gianetti of Lampre and say you need to get this kid tested,” team director Wayne Greenhalgh told Cycling Weekly
>>> Vincenzo Nibali to Lampre? Italian team join race to sign three-time Grand Tour winner
“There was an offer on the table from them for the Yates brothers before they went to Orica-GreenEdge.
“Because of what we told them about Simon and Adam, they actually ask us if we have any riders coming through who they should watch.
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Which one of the brothers knows each other better?
“Now Hugh’s racing at a good level (UCI Pro-Continental team Caja Rural), they trust us even more."
>>> Promising Brit Hugh Carthy aiming for Vuelta a España start in 2016
The current group of six riders are “as good as we’ve ever had”, says Greenhalgh, who has tipped Robert Scott as a “star for the future”. Scott was second in the Junior National Road Race Championships last year and a stage winner at the Junior Tour of Wales.
First year juniors and best friends Tom Pidcock and Harry Hardcastle won a plethora of youth and local races in 2015, and Pidcock came fifth in the junior Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Zolder, Belgium, in January. Scottish rider Tom Chandler, time trialist specialist Adam Hartley and Harry Paine make up the remainder of the team.
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A freelance sports journalist and podcaster, you'll mostly find Chris's byline attached to news scoops, profile interviews and long reads across a variety of different publications. He has been writing regularly for Cycling Weekly since 2013. In 2024 he released a seven-part podcast documentary, Ghost in the Machine, about motor doping in cycling.
Previously a ski, hiking and cycling guide in the Canadian Rockies and Spanish Pyrenees, he almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains. He lives in Valencia, Spain.
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