The first yellow jersey of the Junior Tour of Ireland, America's Gage Hecht already has a staggering number of national titles to his name.
With just the opening time trial stage completed in the Junior Tour of Ireland and five more days of competition remaining, the contest is only beginning and there is everything to race for.
But given the calibre of the first-year junior rider who won last evening’s 6.2km test from Ennis to Drumquin, it's already clear the home men have their hands full.
Gage Hecht of the visiting US Hot Tubes team may be just 16-years-old but he has already challenged at a World Championships.
And the youngster from Parker, Colorado, also has a string of national titles and medals to his name across all the disciplines.
Advertisement
His palmares already suggests he’s an athlete we will hear a lot more about long after the hostilities of the coming days and completed.
Just over two weeks ago he came away from the USA Cycling Amateur Road Nationals with the criterium gold medal and stars and stripes jersey of American junior champion.
And two days before taking that title he had won bronze in the time trial event, having taken silver 48 hours earlier in the junior road race.
Before the road season even began, Hecht had taken no fewer than 11 victories on the US cyclocross scene in major events.
That fantastic run began way back in mid September, 2014, with a win on the Boulder cyclocross scene and continued into the early weeks of this year.
In between he won the Rocky Mountain Cyclocross Championships and claimed two titles at the Colorado State Cyclocross Championships.
He was also victorious in the junior support race at round 2 of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Belgium in November and claimed gold in the junior race at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships on December 1st.
He then went on to represent America at the World Cyclocross Championships in the Czech Republic in January of this year.
Related News
And in the sprint for the silver medal in the junior race from a three-man group his chain slipped and he would have to settle for 4th.
VeloNews called him the most exciting cyclocross prospect to come out of the United States for a decade.
During the 2014 road season he won the gold medal in the TT at USA Cycling Amateur National Championships in the 15-16 years category and took bronze in the road race.
He had won gold in the team pursuit at the track national championships one month earlier. And in January 2014 he won silver at the national cyclocross championships.
In 2013 he was part of the team pursuit line-up that won the 15-16 years category gold medal at the national track championships in July, when he also excelled in the individual events.
He won silver in the omnium, gold in the scratch race, gold in the individual pursuit and bronze in the flying TT.
On the road in 2013 Hecht won bronze in the national road race championships in the 15-16 years category and silver in the TT.
He was also New Mexico regional road race champion that season and Colorado TT champion.
In January 2013 he was national cyclocross champion in the 15-16 years category and before moving up to that age group had won 11 national titles in the 13-14 year category across the road, cyclocross and track disciplines.
Keep an eye on him in Ireland this week.
Topics
