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🇦🇹 Austria /Sports

Who will be the next Felix Gall? The ruthless race for cycling’s stars of tomorrow

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • Felix Gall and Gregor Mühlberger have formed a successful Austrian partnership on major stage races, but Mühlberger’s Vuelta campaign ended after a crash.
  • Their different routes to the elite level reflect a changing development system increasingly dominated by wealthy professional teams and farm squads.
  • The article examines how data-driven scouting and large budgets are reshaping the competition for young Austrian cyclists.

Felix Gall and Gregor Mühlberger climbed the Sierra Nevada passes side by side, as they had earlier in the Abruzzo and Dolomites. Gall had already finished second overall at the Giro d’Italia with support from his valued domestique. At the Vuelta a España, the Austrian duo was chasing another Grand Tour podium until Mühlberger’s crash ended his race.

"We are roommates, we always have a great atmosphere and motivate each other," Gall said. The pair, riding for the French superteam Decathlon-CMA CGM this season, have been among the strongest combinations in cycling. They are expected to move to industry giant Lidl-Trek next season.

Their paths to the elite, however, could hardly have been more different. Mühlberger, now 32, followed the traditional route. He joined the Tirol KTM Cycling Team as a teenager after emerging as a highly regarded Austrian prospect. The Continental team, the sport’s second international tier, had been established by Tour of Austria director Thomas Pupp and became a reliable springboard to the WorldTour.

Marco Haller and Patrick Konrad followed the same route, as did the new German cycling star Florian Lipowitz. Gall, 28, represents a newer development model. He joined the development team of the German WorldTour outfit Sunweb at a young age, entering a system that has since become increasingly powerful in the talent race.

These farm teams sit inside the structures of major parent squads and often control budgets of several million euros per season. They can give young riders advantages once reserved for established professionals, including advanced equipment, performance testing and nutritional support. Teams such as UAE Gen Z, Red Bull Rookies and Lidl-Trek Future Racing, backed in part by sovereign funds and billion-dollar corporations, now dominate major junior races such as the Tour de l’Avenir. Talent scouting itself has also become more exact, with watts-per-kilogram measurements used to assess how far a young rider might progress.

We are roommates, we always have a great atmosphere and motivate each other.

· Felix GallGall described his partnership with Gregor Mühlberger.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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