His name appears more and more often in the finals. That in the company of the greatest. Laurence Pithie is only 21, yet the New Zealander shows that he has the engine to challenge even the Van der Poels and Van Aerts in the classics. A portrait of the young rider who wants to prove Visma-Lease a Bike wrong.
The spring of the great discovery.
More and more often, supporters see the blue of Groupama – FDJ appearing in the full final. And the top players also look twice over their shoulders.
For example, a 21-year-old boy in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was surprised by being able to follow Wout van Aert on the Mont Saint-Laurent, which was not possible for many riders.
Strong bears Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen were also impressed when the New Zealander only released on the last passage of the Kemmelberg in Ghent-Wevelgem.
The name, Laurence Pithie. What is his story?
New Zealand omni-talent
In 2002, Laurence Pithie was born in Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand.
It quickly became clear that he would skip a few steps.
Pithie was barely crawling or walking when he started walking. Successfully. He became national champion in cross-country running as a child and performed well in cross-country skiing.
Until a knee injury threw a spanner in the works. The heavy impact had to be avoided, thanks to a father and brother with a penchant for cycling, he soon found a way out on a two-wheeler.
“Even if that was just to maintain my fitness and keep myself busy when I couldn’t run,” he reflected on it to his employer. “If it hadn’t been for the injury, I probably would never have been on a racing bike.”
I found racing quite boring to watch as a teenager.
Laurence Pithie
Pithie clearly had a surplus of racing talent. His family secretly dreamed of a professional career, but he himself still saw one problem.
“I found racing quite boring to watch as a teenager,” he chuckles. “I was just quite talented, which allowed me to win local competitions without having to train much.”
This is how the cheerful guy rose in the local circuit and 2016 became the year of change.
Laurence Pithie may have won the national title in cross-country skiing, track cycling, triathlon, duathlon and cycling, but it was the latter that he would fully focus on.
The no of Visma-Lease a Bike
Ambitious as he is, the New Zealander wants to grow in the cycling world as quickly as his final sprint.
“What better place than the promises of top team Visma-Lease a Bike?”, he thinks. But he cannot get a spot in the Dutch formation.
So he ventures a step of 19,000 kilometers from his home city to Besançon, in the east of France.
There, 18-year-old Pithie finds shelter with the Groupama training team, which is immediately convinced of his great potential.
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He is making leaps and bounds with his new team, saving the highlights for 2024.
Laurence Pithie wins his first WorldTour race in January with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race. Especially the way in which he manages the sprint – squeezed into the crowd – has received praise.
Great places of honor will follow later in the spring: 8th in Le Samyn, 15th in Milan-Sanremo and Bruges-De Panne. As a bonus, he was also allowed to don the yellow, green and white jersey in Paris-Nice.
The climax seemed to come yesterday in Flanders Fields.
I had great company with the current and former world champion. That bodes well for the future.
Laurence Pithie
But to really compete with the biggest, it lacks the engine capacity for the time being.
“It was so incredibly tough,” Pithie responded after his adventure with Pedersen and Van der Poel. “I drove a good race tactically. I worked when I had to, never before have I gone so deep.”
“I am proud of how I showed up. I had great company with the current and former world champion. That bodes well for the future.”
What kind of rider does Laurence Pithie want to present himself as? “I don’t really know yet. A classic rider or rather a sprinter? I will try to do it all,” he concludes.
Just that little bit, then everyone will know his name.
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2024-03-25 13:59:00
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