Bad luck strikes again for Visma | LaB: No Tour de l'Avenir for Nordhagen...

In the upcoming Tour de l'Avenir, also known as the Tour de France for U23, don't look for Jorgen Nordhagen or other Norwegians. According to the list the organization sent out Monday, the Scandinavian country is remarkably enough not sending a team for the major race for talented cyclists.

France, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Colombia, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Australia, United States, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Israel, Austria and Luxembourg all send a selection to the Tour de l'Avenir, but not the Norwegian team that has been so successful in recent years.

Of the last four editions, two eventually went to the Norwegian delegation. Tobias Foss won the race in 2019, and Tobias Halland Johannessen in 2021. In addition, current pros like Soren Waerenskjold (2021 and 2022) and Anders Halland Johannessen (2021) booked stage wins in the race, while current Visma | Lease a Bike pros Johannes Staune-Mittet (second in 2022) and Per Strand Hagenes also rode the race.

Missed opportunity for future Visma pro Nordhagen

Even the current generation of Norwegians had certainly not performed badly at the Tour de l'Avenir. Nordhagen, who will move to the pro branch of Visma | Lease a Bike next year, would have been one of the favorites for the final classification. In addition, with riders such as Embred Svestad-Barseng (from the Arkéa - B&B Hotels training team, 11th in the Tour of Slovakia), Jonas Kind Hoydahl, and Storm Ingebrigsten, there is still plenty of talent.

Nordhagen recently won a stage in the Tour Alsace and finished third in the overall classification. He also achieved that ranking in Liège-Bastogne-Liège this year.

At the time of writing, it is unclear why the Norwegian delegation will not travel to this year's Tour de l'Avenir. Belgian Jarno Widar is considered the top favorite for the overall victory, having won the Giro Next Gen, Alpes Isere Tour, and Giro Valle Aosta.