Lorenzo Finn changed football and tennis for cycling and today, at 19 years old, he is one of the greatest talents in the peloton.

Next season the average age in the peloton will drop considerably. Not because some of the most veteran runners have decided to get off the bicycle permanently, but because the select group of the best road cyclists will be joined by a new crop of young runners perfectly prepared to take on the challenge that lies ahead.

This is the case of the Spanish Benjamín Noval (18 years old) and Héctor Álvarez (19 years old)from the Belgians Matisse Van Kerckhove (20 years old) and Niels Driesen (21 years old)from Italian Aubin Sparfel (20 years) or also transalpine Lorenzo Finnwhich will turn 20 years old on December 19.

Natural of GenoaLorenzo was active until this year in the Red Bull team training structure, but the top leaders of the energy group have considered, based on the results achieved this year and its evolution, that it was already prepared to make the leap to the first team of the energy formation alongside the Belgian Remco Evenepoel.

His, like that of many young people who reach the top of the pyramid at a very young age, is a success story that seemed to be written in advance.

Due to knee problems, Lorenzo Finn changed football (as has happened to several stars of the platoon, such as himself Evenepoel) and tennis for cycling at age twelve. It was a change that paid off. Today, the Italian is one of the greatest talents of his generation, and also one of the most successful. In 2024, he was proclaimed U19 world champion; In 2025, he repeated the feat in the U23 category. And in 2026, competing for the team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe Rookieswon the Next Gen Giro and the Tour de l’Avenir.

In an interview he gave to his own team, Lorenzo assures that his love for cycling was at first sight. “I really liked it. So I said to myself: why not try a new sport? After all, I was still young. At first I wasn’t particularly good, but I kept going. And I’ve continued to enjoy it ever since.”

All the young people, or rather, when he was younger, he is only 19 years old, his “greatest inspiration was Geraint Thomas. The first Tour de France I saw on television was the 2018 edition, when ‘G’ won. I also have good memories of the 2019 Tour and the stage with final in the Izoardwhich I saw with my father. “I have very nice memories of those days.”

Assures Finn that the decisions he has made throughout his career with his coach have been the right ones and these are what have allowed him to continue growing. “My coach and I had a plan: to continue developing in the U23 category and achieve certain goals. I was still missing something, especially in the stage races. In reality, the results were not the most important thing for my evolution; what mattered was the feeling that I was progressing, and that is precisely what I experienced during the stage races. I have made great strides and, of course, the results have come as a consequence. But, beyond that, I am very satisfied with my development as a cyclist. I still have a long way to go to reaching my full development, but I have reached a level that allows me to have confidence. Now I feel 100% prepared to take the next step; it is not just a possibility, it is a reality.”

Like all young people who take the leap, as Benjamín Noval pointed out to MDone of the things that ‘worries’ you the most when taking the leap is the distances of the races and the pace at which you go in them. “Right now I manage the distances of the U23 category well, but when I see how long the ‘monuments’ and the big professional races are, I realize that there is still a lot of work to do. It’s about being able to perform even after five or six hours of racing.”

Dream of doing a good job and winning the Tour de France, but being Italian he feels a special Turn: “As an Italian, you dream of participating in it one day, let alone winning it!”; But he is clear that in his first professional year, haste is not a good advisor. “I have managed to become a professional and it is what I wanted since I was a child. Now, I shouldn’t put too much pressure on myself; first I need to know the level. I don’t have specific expectations for my first year as a professional; I want to evolve throughout the season and help the team. At the end of the day, I still have time.”