Global Scout 2023: 11 Male Riders to Sign
It’s August and teams are making signings for 2023. There is loads of talent on the market from smaller cycling nations who could make a big impact if signed up for 2023.
Welay Berhe
20, Ethiopia
Africa's best climbing prospect.
Berhe first came on the scene in 2019 when he won the junior African Continental TT Championships. He then went quiet for a couple of years, most likely due to Covid and the siuation in Ethiopia. There was some surprise this season when he was picked up by EF's development team. Since joining EF Education-Nippo, Berhe has shown his talent in big under 23 and senior races across Europe.
He kicked off his season with an attacking ride in the Istrian Spring Trophy, winning the Mountain's jersey. Two weeks later he won the GP Crevoisier and was then thrown into the Giro di Sicilia. He's continued his season racing domestically in Switzerland with a smattering of races elsewhere. His most impressive rider of the year came at the recent Valle d'Aosta (U23). Berhe went to battle against the best under 23 climbers in the world and came 7th. Even more impressive when you consider that he finished without any team-mates.
EF should really be signing Berhe up to a pro contract next year. If they don't, there is another team which would dearly like to sign him...
Ideal 2023 Team: Qhubeka Pro Team (Rumoured for 2023)
Aleksey Fomovskiy
21, Uzbekistan
It's been great over the past few seasons to see riders from Uzbekistan getting chances to ride in Europe and Asia through the national federation and this year the Tashkent City Pro Cycling Team.
Aleksey Fomovskiy is the most promising rider to come out of this investment so far. He took a step forward early this season with a really good ride at the Tour of Sharjah. He took a 7th place in the opening TT and an 8th on the hilltop finish of stage 3. He ended the race as the best young rider and 10th overall.
Fomovskiy then put in some solid rides in one-day races in Turkey before coming second at the under 23 TT at the Asian Championships behind World Tour rider Ahmed Madan.
Throughout this season, he has built some valuable experience and shown his talent as a TT rider who can get over the hills. I'd like to see him at a good under 23 team next year.
Ideal 2023 Team: Astana Qazaqstan Development Team
Antonio Fagundez
23, Uruguay
There can't be many riders with more wins this season than Antonio Fagundez. The Uruguayan has racked up eleven wins on the Spanish amateur racing calendar. The best of these probably came at the Vuelta a Zamora in July where he beat the highly talent Mulu Hailemichael into second place.
The Uruguayan is lightning in the hills with a great punch. He's also not bad on his TT bike. One of his wins this year came at the Campeonato de Galicia TT.
Ideal 2023 Team: Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Hamza Amari
20, Algeria
Hamza Amari is one of a number of excellent young talents emerging from Algeria. He may be the best of them.
Hamza has had a strong season so far, picking up two wins on the domestic Algerian racing scene - probably the healthiest domestic calendar in Africa. He has taken 21 more top-10s in Algeria over the course of the year. This includes a sixth on the GC of the Tour of Algeria, racing alongside former WT riders and other top Algerian talent.
He's also managed to build some experience racing outside of Algeria this season. He put in a solid ride at the early-season Tour of Sharjah, coming 15th on two stages and 21st overall. More recently, he raced alongside other Algerian talent in Belgium, securing a 4th place at Kruibeke. His best result of the year was an outstanding 3rd place at the African Continental Chaps, finishing behind Henok Mulubrhan and Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg in the sprint.
As mentioned, Hamza is one of many Algerian talents coming through. It would also be great to see Ayoub Ferkous, Mohamed Nehari, Hamza Mansouri and Slimane Badlis get opportunities. Even an amateur team with good racing opportunities would be good.
Ideal 2023 Team: U.C.Monaco
Sergio Chumil
21, Guatemala
It's not very often that we see a talented Guatemalan rider in Europe, but Sergio Chumil has been going very well racing in Spain this year. He's been riding for amateur team Aluminos Cortizo, picking up a number of good results in some of the biggest races on the Spanish and Portuguese domestic calendars.
Chumil's biggest result this year came in April at the Volta a Portugal do Futuro. He came in 5th overall with an impressive 2nd place on the stage three summit finish. He's scored eight top-10s throughout the year so far in Europe.
Prior to this year, Chumil had been a major force racing in many of the South and Central American national races.
He's a decent prospect who deserves a shot at Continental level or with a good under 23 team.
Ideal 2023 Team: Lizarte
Xin Peng
22, China
One of a decent crop of Chinese youngsters.
Xin Peng has raced exclusively in China over his four-year career. His break-out results came at the Tour of Qinghai Lake last season where he won two stages and finished second overall. Peng is an impressive climber, having won the summit finish on stage two. He backed that performance up this year at Qinghai Lake again with another stage win and ninth overall.
Due to COVID restrictions, this race has only featured riders from China and Hong Kong in the last two years. This makes it difficult to tell the level that the top riders are at. It was very encouraging to see the number of young riders at the race this year - there were five under-23s in the top five on GC.
Xin Peng deserves to be one of the Chinese riders given a shot at racing in Europe.
Ideal 2023 Team: China Glory
Nasr Maatougui
20, Morocco
Nasr Maatougui has been really impressive in races across Africa in the past two seasons. He was 9th last year in a very competitive edition of the Tour du Faso, took two stage wins at this year's Tour do Cameroun and had a solid ride at Africa's biggest race, the Tour du Rwanda. He also went well at the Tour of Sharjah in February and has been a top rider in the ever-improving Moroccan domestic calendar.
The young Moroccan climber currently rides for Sidi Ali-Unlock Team, but they have struggled to secure invites to races this year - a real issue for Continental teams in Africa which the UCI needs to address. It would be great to see him get some experience racing in Europe next season.
Ideal 2023 Team: Team Colpack Ballan
Andreas Miltiadis
25, Cyprus
Andreas Miltiadis is a very talented rouler and TT specialist. He has spent the last two seasons racing for the Venezuelan Java Kiwi Atlántico team, securing decent results.
Miltiadis has also spent some time racing with the Cyrpus national team which he did for this year's Tours of Rhodes and Hellas. In Rhodes, he missed out on the win in the prologue by just one second, eventually finishing 13th overall. He then went on to improve his GC result in Hellas, finishing 9th. His best result of the year came more recently at the Commonwealth Games TT in Birmingham. Andreas finished 10th in a strong field, showing his potential for this discipline.
He is 25, but it seems to me that there is a lot more to come from the Cypriot. He could be a valuable asset to a Pro Team next year.
Ideal 2023 Team: Equipo Kern Pharma
Samuel Niyonkuru
19, Rwanda
One of Africa's best young riders.
Niyonkuru emerged as a possible star of the future when he finished third - behind team-mate Etienne Tuyizere - at the Junior African Continental Champs Road Race. He has continued to impress since, gaining experience racing and training in France, completing the tough Junior race at the Worlds and completing two week-long African stage races.
The first of these was his home Tour of Rwanda. Racing for the national team, he spent a few stages on the attack and finished a solid 27th overall. That was followed by the Tour of Cameroun where he finished seventh on stage 5 and helped team-mate Moise Mugisha to overall success.
As Rwanda 2025 Worlds approaches, teams should think about investing in young Rwandan talent. Niyonkuru is a solid bet due to his consistency, but teams could also look at Etienne Tuyizere, Eric Muhoza, Emmanuel Iradukunda among many others.
Ideal 2023 Team: Team Qhubeka Conti
Kaden Hopkins
22, Bermuda
Some might be surprised to know that Bermuda is a rising force in cycling. They are producing some very good riders. The best of them right now is Kaden Hopkins.
Hopkins has had a solid year riding for the reputable amateur Spanish team, Essax. He's been with them since 2021, building his European racing experience. He won an early season amateur race in Spain and has gone on to pick up a further three top-5s so far this year.
However, Hopkins really showed his progression at the recent Commonwealth Games. He rode to a very impressive 11th place in the TT. A few days later, he surprised a lot of people by making the front split in the road race. This group featured a host of WT riders and elite prospects. Hopkins eventually finished 14th after a gutsy ride. He just about couldn't hold in when the attacks flew in the finale. He showed incredible determination in that race, but also a great racing brain.
Ideal 2023 Team: Global 6 Cycling
Isaac del Toro
18, Mexico
Mexico is producing a number of good talents at junior and under-23 level. Del Toro is their most promising prospect at under-23.
A good climber, del Toro impressed at the recent Valle d'Aosta (U23) race. The race featured most of the top-tier of under-23 climbers and the Mexican managed to finish in 22nd on GC, very impressive for a first-year. Del Toro also tested himself against the senior peloton at the Sibiu Cycling Tour and has race a number of other high-level races this year. Normally when a rider is exposed to a level of racing which is high than they are used to, we see them struggling to finish races, but Del Toro has on been DNF in one race all season.
He may choose to stay within the national team setup which is clearly going well for him, but it may be good for him to sign for a European under-23 team for 2023. He was also 20th in the under-23 cyclocross worlds this year, so we may see him get involved there over the winter.
Ideal 2023 Team: Drone Hopper-Gsport
As a side note, also look out for Heriberto Quiroz Gutierrez, a Mexican junior who is going very well racing in Belgium this year. One to look out for.
