Global Riders to Watch: Sibiu Tour 2022

So there’s a big race starting this weekend.. There’s also a big race starting in Romania with six continents represented on the start-line. The Sibiu Tour has been a breeding ground of great champions for many years. Who will emerge this year?

Here are some riders to watch out for, starting with the home riders.

Emil Dima

25, Romania, Giotti Victoria Savini Due

A man we've seen a fair bit in the breakaways this season. As the level is so high this year, we are likely to see more of the same from Emil, rather than going for GC.

We've seen Dima in the breakaways at Coppi Bartali, Hongrie and Adriatica Ionica already this season. In Adriatica he came really close to winning stage four, finishing second after Riccardo Lucca escaped his breakaway companions on the final climb.

Dima is in good form, recently taking the Romanian national championships. A stage win from the breakaway is certainly possible in this race.

Serghei Tvetcov

33, Romania, Romania National Team

One of the leading lights of Romanian cycling for many years. Serghei has struggled this season for various reasons. His performance last time out at the Tour of Albania was a bit more encouraging, finishing 20th on GC with a 10th place on stage 4. Hopefully the form is coming now.

He's a very good climber on his day. He finished 4th on the Balea Lac stage in 2019, 3rd in 2015. The level is much higher this year so if he is to repeat that he is going to have to be flying.

He'll put in a good TT so a top-10 on GC is certainly within reach.

Andrei Cojanu

22, Romania, MENtoRISE Elite Team CFX

Having ridden the other two Romanian stage races, Turul Romaniei and Tour of Szerkerland, this is Andrei Cojanu's first go at the big one. He'll be motivated to impress.

Andrei has had a good season so far. He finished 17th at the early season GP Gündogmus, a race with a fair bit of climbing. In May, he claimed top-5s in a couple of national-level Romanian races.

It will be interesting to see how he goes on the big climb. A top-25 would be a great result for the youngster.

Eduard-Michael Grosu

29, Romania, Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli

Romania's top sprinter has struggled a bit for results since joining Drone Hopper at the start of the season. Two 6th places at the Istrian Spring Trophy have been his best results.

The sprinting level is not too high here. He can compete with the likes of Dekker, Laas and Barbero. With good positioning, he could challenge for a stage win. The problem is that his team is not very competitive in the sprint.

Hijiri Oda

23, Japan, EF Education-Nippo Development

Hijiri Oda has just returned from a very successful time at home in Japan. He raced the Tour of Japan, finishing 9th on the closing stage. The week later he took on the Tour de Kumano, taking 3rd on the opening stage and 12th overall. This will have been a confidence-boost for his return to Europe.

Perhaps we will see Oda in the breakaways over the next few days.

Yusuke Kadota

23, Japan, EF Education-Nippo Development

Another Japanese rider who has just returned to Europe. Kadota also rode Japan and Kumano, taking home 4th on the final stage of Kumano and 11th overall.

Kadota is a bit more of a climber, so he could have a good go at the climb up to Balea Lac.

Gergely Szarka

23, Hungary, Giotti Victoria Savini Due

In 2019, Gergely Szarka sensationally won the Hungarian nationals at just 20. Since then, he had a couple of difficult years. This year, however, he seems to be back to a decent level. His best result this season was 15th on the hilly stage 4 of Tour of Hellas.

Gergely is another solid breakaway contender for Giotti. Hopefully they will be very active in this race.

Salim Kipkemboi

23, Kenya, Bike Aid

It's great to see Salim back racing in Europe. He's a big, raw talent. The Kenyan will be racing the Commonwealth Games in a few weeks, so could potentially have more racing lined up.

Kipkemboi rode well in his last UCI race at the Tour of Thailand in April, finishing 7th on the final stage which finished with a short and steep hill. He'll hope to show more his climbing ability here.

Nico Sessler

28, Brazil, Global 6 Cycling

More Brazilian breakaways coming! Expect to see a lot of Nico up the road in this race. The popular Brazilian loves to attack.

Jakub Otruba

24, Czech Republic, Elkov-Kasper

Jakub Otruba is one of a number of Czech riders developing nicely.

Otruba has already been tenth overall at Alpes Isère Tour with third on stage two. Then he finished third overall at Tour of Malopolska with a third and fourth on stages. Jakub is a punchy rider who can climb pretty well. We'll have to see if he tries to hang on for GC or looks for stage-winning opportunities in this race.

Oleksandr Shevchenko

22, Ukraine, Team Novák

Oleksandr Shevchenko hasn't yet managed to race this season for obvious and understandable reasons. It's great to see him and a couple of other Ukrainians get an opportunity to race here.

Shevchenko is probably the best of the three Ukrainians at the race. He had a busy season last year, riding five UCI stage races and a number of one-days. He will hope to take that experience into this race.

As he's not raced yet this season, it's likely that he will have a bit of a hard time over the next few days.

Isaac del Toro

18, Mexico, Mexico National Team

A nice surprise to have the Mexico National Team in Romania. They bring a very young team to give their riders some experience.

Isaac del Toro is probably their strongest rider. He's had some decent results in Italian u23 races this season. This is a big step up though from there. The team is likely to be hanging on for most of the race.

Stefan de Bod

25, South Africa, Astana Qazaqstan

Stefan de Bod gets a rare chance to lead the team at Sibiu Tour. He's likely to be highly motivated.

Stefan has had a solid year so far, playing his team-role very well. He comes into this race as one of the favourites for the podium.

Guy Sagiv

27, Israel, Israel-Premier Tech

Take note, the Israelis at Israel-Premier Tech are improving. We're seeing lots more Israelis popping up with good results, especially in the under-23s. Look out for Nadav Reisberg, Roy Weinberg and Omer Goldstein who are all improving fast.

Guy Sagiv is one of the more experienced Israelis in the peloton, but perhaps doesn't have the talent of the young-guns coming through. He has some big team-mates to support in this race as Israel-Premier Tech chase those precious UCI points.

Antti-Jussi Juntunen

23, Finland, ABLOC CT

The young fast-man should get his own opportunities to sprint in this race after a lot of lead-out duties this year. Hopefully he gets the nod ahead of the equally fast Joren Bloem.

Juntunen has scored a couple of top-5s this year and showed some decent form at the recent Finland nationals, finishing third in the road race. It'll be interesting to see how he fairs agains the big sprinters in this race.