Be sure to check out my first volumes on Julian Alaphilippe, Matej Mohorič & Niccolò Bonifazio
Next Up - Bob Jungels!
Bob Jungels broke out onto the cycling scene back in 2013 racing for the Luxembourg WorldTour team RadioShack - Leopard, winning a Stage at the 'Tour of Luxembourg' and the (quite entertainingly named) 'GP Nobili Rubinetterie-Coppa Papà Carlo-Coppa Città di Stresa'. You would think that the 5-time Luxembourg Road Race Champion would be getting on age-wise, but the talented rider is still only 26 and is entering his peak racing years.
I remember watching Jungels & Alaphilippe as a two-pronged attack in the Tour of Britain last year, and I think it could be a really effective tactic for some of the smaller World Tours - expect to see some GC wins from the Luxembourg rider this year!
How did he perform in 2018?
Jungels had a slow start to his 2018 year. He came 5th in the GC at the Volta ao Algarve and 3rd in the Royal Bernard Drome Classic, both in February. He very impressively won a monument, Liège - Bastogne - Liège, by over 37 seconds to EF's Michael Woods. He then had a relatively quiet end of season, winning both the Luxembourg National Championships (ITT & Road Race), coming 5th in the GC at the Tour of Britain and winning the first Stage at the Tour of Slovenia (albeit a short prologue).
What can we expect him to win in 2019?
Bob Jungels has already taken a very impressive Stage victory at the Tour of Colombia. It looks as if he's definitely targeting some of the Northern Classics and I reckon he'll win a couple of those - with Terpstra moving over to Direct Energie, Deceuninck - Quick Step might choose to issue some leadership to Jungels when it comes to the Classics. A back-to-back Liège - Bastogne - Liège victory is also well within his grasp. I'd also like to see him do well in some of the Grand Tours, and a podium GC finish should be a target for the Giro d'Italia.
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