The fact that Joshua Tarling became the European Time Trial Champion at the age of 19, after finishing third at the World Time Trial Championship this season, may have surprised some people. However, the trend of signing increasingly young athletes seems to be here to stay.
Now, INEOS is reportedly securing another young talent, according to the British network GCN.
Axel Merckx made him an offer to ride for his development team, but August apparently turned down the offer. The 17-year-old, who stands at 1.70m and weighs 57kg, comes from the same background as Magnus Sheffield, who already competes for INEOS.
His current coach is Toby Stanton, and he is very excited about August’s potential. August is the current American Time Trial Champion.
“I have had this junior team for 32 years, and he is absolutely the most talented rider I have ever seen. We were testing here on a climb, Brasstown Bald, and Magnus Sheffield had already gone a minute faster than some names from the past, but AJ rode, after an almost 100-kilometer training, over a minute faster than Sheffield.”
Andrew August took 14 minutes to complete the climb, so a one-minute difference is huge. He rode the segment with an average power of 398 watts, which equates to 7.2 watts per kilogram.
Testing at INEOS with a VO2 max of 92
Stanton cannot confirm the transition to INEOS yet, but he has given a hint. “He did tests in Mallorca during an INEOS training camp. He got a VO2 max of 92 in a test there. They had never seen that at INEOS. He is like Remco (Evenepoel) but with even more power.”