Global Riders to Watch: Tour of Estonia 2022

It’s not all about the Giro this week! It’s the Tour of Estonia! Estonia welcomes its first ever World Tour team as BikeExchange Jayco look for UCI points, hoping to win the race with Kaden Groves.

Riders from across the globe come together to create a brilliant start-list. Here are a few riders to watch…

Madis Mihkels

18, Estonia, Team Ampler-Tartu2024

A BIG talent.

Mihkels came onto most people's radars at the Worlds last year when he finished 3rd in the Junior RR. Before that, he had already taken 10 wins that season.

He's gone well in his first season at under 23 level, taking top-10s on stages of the Olympia's Tour, Tour du Loir et Cher (6th overall) and Tour de Bretagne. He's here for more big results and I can't wait to see him go head-to-head with Kaden Groves.

Aivaras Mikutis

19, Lithuania, Team Ampler-Tartu2024

Mikutis will be a key rider to support Madis Mihkels over the next few days, but he could take chances of his own if they come up.

He's had a good start to the season, taking 5th in GP Manavgat, a race which is up and down all day and ended with a group of 8 getting away at the end.

With the seven-stage Tour of Bretagne in his legs from a few weeks ago, expect Mikutis to be in good form here.

Lukas Kubis

22, Slovakia, Dukla Banská Bystrica

Due to the success of Peter Sagan over the last decade-or-so, we tend to think of Slovakia as an established cycling nation. But it really isn't. There are no Slovakian riders in the World Tour and if the Sagans were to retire, there would be none in any of the Pro Teams either. As the Sagans near the end of their careers, Slovakia needs a new generation to come through.

Lukas Kubis is one of a couple of big Slovakian prospects. He seems to have raced everywhere over the past three seasons. He’s won GP Chantal Biya in, ran 5th in Senegal and has picked up decent results in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bosnia&Herzegovina and Turkey. He has gained a lot of experience.

This year, he has not been able to reach that same level, hopefully he can turn it round in this race.

Polychronis Tzortzakis

33, Greece, Kuwait Pro Cycling Team

What a legend. Big Pol is having a great season. If you've read a few of these posts, you'll know what to expect. Pol is going to get into as many breakaways as possible.

2nd in the sprint jersey at the Saudi Tour, 1st in the sprint jersey in the South Aegean Tour, 10th overall in the Tour of Thailand. Pol is putting in a lot of work this season.

Can he get in a break which goes to the line this week? Let's hope so.

Matiss Kalverss

18, Latvia, Latvia National Team

It was a great surprise to see young Matiss sign for Astana Qazaqstan Dev team for this season. This is his first year at under-23 level and he started really well. Kalverss took 12th at the Umag Trophy. His other notable result this season was 13th on a stage of the Tour of Hellas.

He is a rouler and TT rider and will hope to put those skills to good use over the next few days by having a good go at the prologue, going in breakaways or riding in support of his team-mates.

Jaakko Sillankorva

21, Finland, Finland National Team

Watch out for the Fins this week. They have brought some decent young talent.

Sillankorva is a great prospect. He's finding some form now, having won a national race in Finland last week. He's a fast sprinter but he can also get away in a group.

Jaako is learning his trade, hopefully he can get into a good move at this race and show his talent.

Veeti Vainio

20, Finland, Finland National Team

Veeti Vainio signed this year for the U.C. Monaco team. He has be riding pretty well in the under-23 races, playing mostly a team-role.

Vainio's best result is winning the Tour de DMZ Juniors race in 2019. That's quite a hilly race which attracts the best young talent from Asia. He's yet to back up that result in the under-23s. He is still on the comeback after a big crash a few weeks ago. Hopefully he can step up and ride to a good result here.

Abdul Azim Aliyas

19, Malaysia, Kuwait Pro Cycling Team

Aliyas had a solid ride at the Tour of Thailand last month. This race is a big step up in quality for him. This will be a big learning experience.

Hjalmar Klyver

20, Sweden, Sweden National Team

Klyver is a decent young talent from Sweden. This year he is doing more racing outside of Scandinavia, which should be great for his development.

Expect to see the young Swede in the breakaways this week. In March, he was very aggressive in the South Aegean Tour.

Behzodbek Rakhimbaev

20, Uzbekistan, Tashkent City Professional Cycling

Rakhimbaev is one of a number of talents coming out of Uzbekistan.

He’s put in some solid rides already this year in Turkey and was 4th the Asian under 23s. Hopefully he and the team will be active in this race.

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Let me know who you are looking forward to seeing over the next few days!