Nordhagen moves on after disappointing U23 World Championship for Visma | Lease a Bike with win in Italy

Jørgen Nordhagen just keeps on winning. The 19-year-old Norwegian has impressed throughout this year, his first year as a rider on the Visma | Lease a Bike development team. After a somewhat disappointing World Cup, he continued quietly in Italy. On Tuesday, he won the Coppa Città di San Daniele, an Italian one-day race for U23s.

Norhagen won the Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia as recently as September, where he had fellow top talents Pablo Torres (UAE) and Giulio Pellizzari (Bardiani) next to him on the podium. Torres, who impressed at the Tour de l'Avenir in August, and Pellizzari, who was close to a stage win at the last Giro d'Italia, were thus behind the young Norwegian in Dutch service.

Menno Huising already finished seventh in the four-day stage race, and on Tuesday, the 20-year-old Dutchman even finished second behind his almost unbeatable teammate. Nordhagen and Huising will both make the switch to the WorldTour in 2025. Nordhagen already made his debut for the main squad in the Deutschland Tour and also left there too a good impression on the Dutch formation's team managers. He finished seventh and won the mountain classification.

Read more below the photo.

Nordhagen fills list of achievements in final U23 year

For Nordhagen, the Coppa Città di San Daniele victory was already the fifth of the season. In July, he won a stage in the Tour Alsace, finishing third in the GC. He then won the Trofeo Bonin Costruzioni in August, and in the Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, he was thus suitable for stage and overall wins.

Thus, the expectations for the World Championships in Zurich were high, but he "did not show up fit enough" for the time trial and finished "only" 39th in the road race, more than twelve minutes behind winner Lorenzo Finn. A year ago at the World Championships in Glasgow, Nordhagen had finished fourth in the junior time trial and sixth in the road race. In Australia 2022, he scored spots nine (time trial) and 13 (road race).

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