The Grand Depart of the 60th Tour de l’Avenir from the communauté de communes Moselle-Sud brought the town centre of Sarrebourg to life on Sunday, where a large crowd discovered the great hopefuls of tomorrow during the prologue.
The first CIC yellow jersey went to a Canadian. Michael Shea Leonard, from Toronto, aged just twenty, is already in his second season at World Tour level with the Ineos team, which recruited him when he was a junior. Although he hasn’t had much opportunity to express himself so far, Michael Shea Leonard put in a remarkable performance over the 7.1km course, which was not very difficult, but covered at an average speed of 53.3 km/h!
He was 7 seconds faster than a reference in the under-23 category, Great Britain’s Peter Joseph Blackmore, winner of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Espoirs.
Of course, it’s too early to draw too many conclusions from this opening stage, which marks the start of an event with a strong mountainous character, but Belgian Jarno Widar, announced as a potential favourite, has already positioned himself well despite his slight build, clocking the 9th fastest time 13 seconds behind the event’s first leader.
Pierre Thierry from Brittany, known for his ability to ride, was the first Frenchman, 14th at 16 seconds.
The longest stage of the Tour de l’Avenir awaits the 148 competitors this Monday between Sarrebourg (Moselle) and Ronchamp-Champagney (Haute-Saône), with the last fifty kilometres free of major climbs but seriously hilly.
