Visma-Lease a Bike have signed under-23 street race world champion Niklas Behrens to bolster their squad for 2025 and past after his spectacular show in Zürich.
The younger German reduce his enamel as a U23 rider this previous season on Lidl-Trek’s improvement crew, Future Racing, nevertheless, he is to make the step as much as WorldTour-level with the Dutch squad on a three-year deal.
“I’m tremendous completely happy to affix Group Visma-Lease a Bike,” stated Behrens on the crew’s web site. “It is a crew I’ve all the time seemed as much as as a result of excessive stage of professionalism. I’m actually trying ahead to being a part of such an ideal crew.”
Behrens gained the U23 title in a two-up dash towards Martin Svrček (Soudal-QuickStep) after making the decisive transfer 11km from the end within the 173km race and dropping everybody however the Czech rider whereas additionally passing solo breakaway Jan Christen (UAE Group Emirates).
Together with his powerfully constructed body, Visma hope the 20-year-old can develop as a Classics rider with time-trialling potential and a robust dash additionally in his arsenal.
Even at 195cm (6ft 4in), Behrens confirmed he may climb with the punchiest U23 riders and drop them after the breathless four-hour race, with these shedding out together with well-established WT abilities Isaac Del Toro (UAE Group Emirates) and Joseph Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech).
“I hope to find my true speciality within the coming years with the assistance of the crew,” stated the German.
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“I imagine I can carry out effectively in classics, however I additionally wish to additional develop my time-trialing abilities. Moreover, I’m not gradual in a dash, which is necessary for profitable races.”
He is one among 5 prime under-23 prospects set to bolster the Dutch roster within the coming years, alongside 4 from Visma’s personal improvement crew, Matthew Brennan, Menno Huising, Tijmen Graat and Jørgen Nordhagen.
Having confirmed his standing as among the best younger riders on this planet with victory in Zürich, after spectacular shows already this 12 months on the Giro Subsequent Gen and European Championships, Behrens’ signature was extremely wanted. Nonetheless, he was additionally the one rider within the prime 12 finishers of the U23 race to not have a WorldTour contract secured for the long run, making it an enormous win for Visma-Lease a Bike.
“Niklas is a rider with lots of potential. He caught our consideration over the previous two years in a number of races, together with the latest Tour de l’Avenir,” stated Visma DS and compatriot Grischa Niermann.
“He hasn’t been racing for lengthy and has lots of development margin. We’re assured that we will information him to the following step in his nonetheless early profession.”
🌈 Now we have a 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕠𝕟 coming in!ℕ𝕚𝕜𝕝𝕒𝕤 𝔹𝕖𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕤 will race for Group Visma | Lease a Bike for the following 3 years. 🗣️ “It is a crew I’ve all the time seemed as much as as a result of excessive stage of professionalism. I’m actually trying ahead to being a part of it.”September 30, 2024
