Fifteen young athletes from the UCI’s World Cycling Centre will take part in the 2015 UCI Road World Championships(19th-27th September) in Richmond, USA.

From four continents (Europe, Africa, America and Asia), these riders will line up at the start of the time trial and road events in the Junior and Under 23 categories.

The last spots were up for grabs at the Tour de l’Avenir, the last round of the UCI Under 23 Nations’ Cup, which took place between 22nd and 28th August. Chilean rider, José Luis Rodriguez is already making a name for himself and will be amongst the Under 23 riders to follow on 25th September in Richmond on a course designed for rouleurs-puncheurs. Another one to watch aside the South American is Adil Barbari from Algeria.

In the Junior category, the UCI’s CMC will follow with great interest Dusan Rajovic (Serbia), El Mehdi Chokri (Morocco) and Antonio Barac (Bosnia-Herzegovina), and for the girls Yumi Kajihara (Japan). The young Japanese woman shone at the UCI Junior Track World Championships in Astana (Kazakhstan) with two medals (silver in the points race, bronze in the team pursuit). Eighteenth in the road race and 39th at the time trial in Ponferrada in 2014, Kajihara will be looking to continue her steady progression on the international stage in the United States in a few weeks.

Still in the Women’s category, Jeanne d’Arc Girubuntu (Rwanda) is going to write history for her country. The thousandth trainee at the UCI’s WCC, and first Rwandan at the centre, she is also the first rider to represent the Land of the Thousand Hills at the UCI Road World Championships. She will take part in the road race and the time trial. In the Men’s category, Rwanda will be present with four riders including Valens Ndayisenga (Under 23), trainee at the UCI’s WCC, and who took part in Spain last year.

In the Junior and Under 23 categories, the UCI Road World Championships provide an opportunity for these young riders to show themselves, such as Jelena Eric (Serbia), 8th of the Junior Road Race in 2014 and who since has been riding for the BTC City Ljubljana, in the UCI Women’s World Cup. According to Jean-Jacques Henri, coach at the UCI’s WCC, on the subject of the boys, “3 or 4 riders have the potential to join a Continental or Professional Continental team.”

Alexandros Agrotis, CYP

Anass Ait El Abdia, MAR

Antonio Barac, BIH

Adil Barbari, ALG

El Mehdi Chokri, MAR

Mohcine El Kouraji, MAR

Marcio Filho, BRA

Jeanne d'Arc Girubuntu, RWA

Julius Jayde, RSA

Yumi Kajihara, JPN

Valens Ndayisenga, RWA

Andrej Petrovski, MKD

Dusan Rajovic, SRB

José Luis Rodriguez, CHI

Laura Vainionpaa, FIN