[ad_1]
Andrew “Andy” Riddick calls himself the “U23 Gravel World Champion,” a title that is unofficial but real. He competed in both UCI Gravel World Championships on Team USA’s elite men’s team, and was truly the best rider under the age of 23 outside of the 19-34 age category.
For Ridic, stepping up to the World Championship to race within the elite category was the highlight of a tumultuous 2022 season. Ridditch moved to Spain that year to pursue his professional road career and realized that gravel could open up an unconventional new path to a career in cycling.
“My mission is to use gravel as a platform for professional cycling. I want to get into a pro team or a World Tour team from my gravel-based results,” Riddich said. cycling news On his birthday in January, the 22-year-old spoke about his future career.
“My whole gravel project is a path. I would be happy if I could create a staircase behind me for athletes who are coming into this sport and have less experience in amateur teams. I don’t like road racing I’m not saying that, but I think there’s an untapped market for it, and it’s a lot of fun to be involved in gravel racing.”
It was two seasons ago that the unknown 20-year-old was added to Team USA’s elite men’s roster for the UCI Gravel World Championships. He finished 24th overall on the long course at Rancho Gravel, thereby qualifying him for the 19-34 age category at the World Championships, and used the petition process to USA Cycling to become the first World Championship Elite. He moved onto the roster and became the third youngest player. rider in that division.
“I wanted to race with the elite. I thought, wow, that was an amazing experience. I got to line up with Peter Sagan and Mathieu van der Poel. Superheroes, racing with them. “I thought that was the coolest thing in the world,” Riddick said cheerfully. “It was a terrible race. I couldn’t finish it. Right after that, I [realised] I have been infected with the new coronavirus. ”
He returned to the 2023 World Championship in the elite field, finishing 37th among the top 25% of riders.
“You can step into these [gravel] Race against the world’s best racers, best cyclocross racers, best mountain bike racers, and best road racers all at once. So I think if you can show yourself as a young man, you can create a lot of value to my name and my personal brand.I hope they will [UCI] In the future, even next year’s U-23 jersey will be recognized. I’m still eligible to play for the U23s.”
He began his full 2024 schedule of off-road racing this past weekend at the Low Gap Grasshopper Series event in Northern California, where he finished seventh. This Sunday, he will be at the start of the Old Man Winter Rally near his home in Boulder, Colorado.
“I’ve never done it before. It’s 45 degrees, but it seems perfectly fine. Some of the trails are a little steep, and other years we got like 2 feet of snow, so it’s a lot tougher. So I’m interested to see how it actually turns out. There’s quite a bit of prize money in there.”
His biggest disappointment for the new season was not being selected among the 30 elite athletes to compete in the Lifetime Grand Prix. He believed his application would be accepted given his experience at such a young age.
“It’s a shame to miss the Grand Prix, especially in Leadville,” admitted Riddick, adding that he was in time to register for the qualifying race to take part in the Leadville Trail 100MTB later on his birthday. As a lifelong athlete, Leadville would be an automatic entry.
“Right now I have to put stress and pressure on myself. To qualify for Leadville, I have to perform well in the qualifying race. And beyond that, I have to make connections with other competitors in the Grand Prix. “I think it’s really important.” “It’s cool. It’s been well received in the media and the players are talking to each other. I thought I deserved to be there, but just like in racing, it’s just… It shows that it’s a little more than bike racing, and it gives me the fire to show that.” I did really well up until those events. ”
From bumpy roads to gravel roads
Riddick was active in Boulder Junior Cycling and had success in the Colorado Time Trial Championship, small criteriums, and stage races. He started gravel racing in 2021, competing in the SBT GRVL in nearby Steamboat Springs when he was 19 years old. He completed the 144-mile Black Course in 34th place overall out of 705 riders. The following year, he finished 26th overall on the Black Course, just two minutes behind top pros such as Peter Stetina, Cole Payton and Laurens ten Dam.
He moved to Spain on a road racing contract in 2022, but it was a year he described as “turbulent and unstable”, marked by a myriad of misfortunes. His first Spanish amateur team, then his second, folded during the season, and the promise of a third opportunity for his career disappeared in the fall. Although he summed it up by saying, “Europe’s amateur racing scene is a train wreck,” he said it was a valuable experience.
“I’ve competed in gravel races and Steamboat twice, so I thought I was OK. I had a solid result in the UCI gravel race in Spain, giving me the opportunity to qualify for the 2022 UCI Gravel World Championship. So I thought about how I could race on gravel and put together my own season, because I didn’t want to risk folding the team over and over again.” Told. “I was in Europe for almost two years and then came back to the States to do some gravel racing.”
He sat in Girona “mentally confused” and wondering how he could pursue his dream of cycling racing without a team or even a resume filled with the results of previous turbulent years to garner strong interest. He said he was thinking about whether he should continue. What he had was contacts in Colorado and experience on gravel.
“So, I started racing for a few private sponsors and started racing for BMC, ‘It Could Be Me’ and Northwave. In 2023, I started the season with UCI gravel races. So I was able to get pretty good results in those races, and in each of them I finished among the top three under 23s.Of course, this fall I’ll be competing for the Gravel World Championships. I came back and had a really good run there.”
He continues to support BMC, Maurten Nutrition, and It Could Be Me, a Colorado nonprofit that works to improve relationships between drivers and other road users by creating an environment of mutual respect. I’m getting in the car after receiving it.
This year, he will only compete in a select few Lifetime Grand Prix events and will not compete in Sea Otter’s Fuego XL and Unbound Gravel. His early summer is filled with six European races, starting with the Wörthersee Gravel in Austria and ending on May 18th when he returns to Grarock in Scotland, where he finished 15th last year. Other goals include competing in the U.S. Marathon Mountain Bike Championships in June and the SBT GRVL in August for the fourth time.
“I am looking forward to racing next season as the U23 Gravel World Champion and am excited to continue shaping the future of gravel.”
[ad_2]
Source link
