Rising Star Watch: Calzoni & Busatto

Particularly since the COVID restart, cycling is increasingly becoming a younger, data-driven sport. Today, we focus on tracking the progress of Neo-Pro's and development riders, plying their trade at continental level.

Walter Calzoni, a young Italian riding for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, should draw the attention of the top WorldTour teams. The 21 year old begun the year in impressive fashion, finishing 11th in Jaén Paraiso Interior, ahead of quality riders such as Trentin, Eenkhorn, Guillaume Martin and Gonzalo Serrano.

Indeed, he finished in the same group as Zimmerman, Barguil and Izagirre. From there, Calzoni finished 2nd overall at the Tour du Rwanda, winning the young riders classification. Earlier this month, only a crash on the final descent at Per Sempre Alfredo prevented the man from Brescia from soloing to his first professional victory. Walter's time trialling is a concern though, as 61st place on the final stage of Coppi e Bartali saw him slip from 3rd to 9th overall. A WorldTour team looking to develop their young climbing prospects would be foolish not to attempt to prise him away from his contract with Q36.5 for next season.

There are a number of development riders who are catching the eye on the continental scene, particularly from Jumbo-Visma, Groupama-FDJ and Soudal-Quick Step's development teams.

However, it is another Italian- Francesco Busatto- who has caught our eyes so far this season. Riding for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty's development squad, Circus-ReUz-Technord, the Italian finished 4th in the Muscat Classic, ahead of Ulissi, Schelling, Jorgenson and Van Gils in a reduced bunch sprint. Like so many of the 'sprinters'; coming through, Busatto can climb well, as illustrated by his 3rd place on the final stage of the U23 Giro last year. Officially, he is without a contract for next season, but I would be shocked if he isn't making the step up to WorldTour level for 2024.