Devo Wrap: Juniors ride in Belgium tops week

The riders of the USA Cycling National Development Program gained valuable experience at the U23 and junior levels. A contingent of U23 riders competed in the Reningelst — Internatie and a group of junior riders contested the Liege -La Gleize Junior International.

U23

A group of five riders from USA Cycling's National Development Program contested the Reningelst — Internatie, a 170.8-kilometer road race in a province of Belgium known as West Flanders.

Tanner Putt (Roswell, Ga./Team Type 1 Development) was the group's best finisher, placing 17th while Ty Magner (Athens, Ga./Team Type 1 Development) was 31st in the final results.

The following three riders also contested the the Reningelst — Internatie:

Adam Liebowitz (Indianapolis, Ind./OUCH Pro Cycling)
Eamon Lucas (Pacific Grove, Calif./California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized) Conor O'Leary (Belt, Mont./Montana Junior Cycling Foundation)

JUNIORS

The USA Cycling contingent with a captured German panzer tank, in front of the La Gleize 1944 historical museum. (Photo by Billy Innes)

USA Cycling sent a group of six junior riders to contest the Liege -La Gleize Junior International in Wallonia, Belgium. The race has helped such illustrious former victors, such as Eddy Merckx, Frank Vandenboucke and Leif Hoste as well as young rider jerseys won by Maxime Monfort and Philip Gilbert. In the final results, Gregory Daniel (Englewood, Colo./Chipotle Development Team) turned in the best performance, finishing 18th among the junior participating in the race and 60th overall. Paul Lynch (Colchester, Conn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling) placed 69th overall.

The first stage was a rolling 95-kilometer course through the countryside. Starting in Aubel, the riders started on a large loop, then a series of smaller loops finishing back where it started. Lynch was the group's best placed rider, sprinting in for 21st place, 36 seconds back.

The second stage was split between a 12-kilometer team time trial in Thimister and a 95-kilometer road race. The USA Cycling contingent, down a rider due to illness, placed 15th.

The road race was another rolling stage that split the peloton into three groups and many stragglers. The USA Cycling riders finished in the main bunch, less than one minute behind the stage leaders.

The third stage was the 104-kilometer queen stage, going over some of the same roads Liege-Bastonge-Liege uses. Many roads were named after professional cyclists who'd tread on that path previously. The course quickly hit the hills, splintering the peloton into several smaller groups. Daniel and Lynch finished 56th and 88th place, respectively.

The following four riders also contested the race for USA Cycling:

Austin Boswell (Bend, Ore./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Colin Joyce (Pocatello, Idaho/Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Mathew Lipscomb (Decatur, Ga./Hincapie Development Team)
Thomas Wrona (Pinehurst, N.C./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)

COMING UP

In the upcoming week, the following group of U23 riders from USA Cycling's National Development Program will contest the U23 Tour de Namur:

Adam Liebowitz (Indianapolis, Ind./OUCH Pro Cycling)
Eamon Lucas (Pacific Grove, Calif./California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized)
Ty Magner (Athens, Ga./Team Type 1 Development)
Conor O'Leary (Belt, Mont./Montana Junior Cycling Foundation)
Tanner Putt (Roswell, Ga./Team Type 1 Development)
Larry Warbasse (Traverse City, Mich./BMC Racing)

The following group of U23 riders will compete in the Tour of Guadeloupe from Aug. 5-14:

Nathan Brown (Covington, Tenn./Trek Livestrong U23)
Lawson Craddock (Austin, Texas/Trek Livestrong U23)
Max Durtschi (Boulder, Colo./Chipotle Development Team)
Ryan Eastman (Petaluma, Calif./Trek Livestrong U23)
Carter Jones (Boulder, Colo./Trek Livestrong U23)
Anders Newbury (Fairfeid, Vt./Chipotle Development Team)

The following group of junior riders will participate in a team pursuit camp in Ghent, Belgium, for more training before making the journey to Moscow, Russia, to compete in Junior Track World Championships:

Austin Boswell (Bend, Ore./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Gregory Daniel (Englewood, Colo./Chipotle Development Team)
Colin Joyce (Pocatello, Idaho/Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Mathew Lipscomb (Decatur, Ga./Hincapie Development Team)
Paul Lynch (Colchester, Conn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Thomas Wrona (Pinehurst, N.C./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)

PHOTO

From left to right: Billy Innes, Andrew Bettinger (team soigneur), Thomas Wrona, Paul Lynch, Austin Boswell, Mathew Lipscomb, Gregory Daniel, Colin Joyce, Andy Haggerty (team mechanic) with a captured German panzer tank, in front of the La Gleize 1944 historical museum. (Photo by Billy Innes)

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