Alexey Vermeulen may have arrived late to cycling, only starting to take it seriously around 16/17 years old, but at just 20, he is going pro early, having signed a two-year deal with Dutch WorldTour team LottoNL-Jumbo.

“I think next year will be a lot of drinking from a fire hose,” Vermeulen told Cyclingnews. “It's going to be a very big learning experience. I don't really know my schedule so I don't have any performance goals yet. But I think one of the biggest goals is to find myself a niche in that peloton.”

Vermeulen has great climbing legs, particularly on long, hard days where there are lots of meters of upward-titling road to be traversed. He has also worked on his time trial with the BMC Development Team, which means that if he continues to improve, he could become a serious contender in stage races that feature time trials in the next few years.

“I think for me and for USA Cycling, he's one of the biggest success stories as far as a guy we really had faith in and who really came along,” USA Cycling coach Mike Sayers told Cyclingnews. “We put him in all the tough races and we asked him to do all the things that he wasn't super comfortable doing. Then we gave him a lot of support on the leadership side, and he just kind of quietly came a long way.”