5. Davide Formolo (Cannondale)
5. Davide Formolo (Cannondale)
A top-ten finisher at last year’s Tour de l’Avenir, Italian ace Davide Formolo’s performances for the national team earned him a pro deal with Cannondale for 2014.
And the 22-year-old has already established himself as a genuine GC contender, with a Giro d’Italia debut for the merged Garmin-Cannondale team already touted for next season.
Seventh in his first stage race outing for the Green Machine – the Tour de Taiwan – Formolo carried his form forward with top-ten finishes at the Tour of Turkey and Tour de Suisse.
Formolo’s seventh place at the latter was arguably his best WorldTour result of the year and he followed it with another stunning showing, where he was narrowly pipped to the national title by Vincenzo Nibali – who, of course, was to win the Tour de France just weeks later.
Another impressive showing at the Tour of Poland continued a good year, though ultimately he did in the final two days to finish 16th overall.
Nevertheless, set to line up with the likes of Dan Martin, Andrew Talansky and Ryder Hesjedal next year, 2015 looks likely to be a big season for the 22-year-old.