PROFESSIONALS | 04/19/2024 | 08:10
by Federico Guido
The figure of Andrew August it does not go unnoticed. Petite, agile and with features that do not at all mask his young age, that of Rochester’s class of 2005 is a profile that cannot fail to stand out among the imposing silhouette of Filippo Ganna and the sailed one of Geraint Thomashis companions at a Tour of the Alps where the Ineos-Grenadiers (the team in which he became professional this year) lined up at the start with more than a few ambitions.
Andrew is called to fuel them by deploying those qualities that convinced the British team to sign him until 2026, a period where the young American is called to grow, gain confidence with the professional world and try to improve step by step. August made the first ones this season, immediately being thrown into the fray in hellish races like the Paris-Roubaix and other challenging ones such as the Tota, both events in which, at 18 years old, he was the youngest at the start.
«It’s something I try not to think about too much» August told us about it. «It doesn’t add pressure because I just try to help the team as much as possible, stay in the group and learn as much as I can. This year I think the most important thing for me is to get used to racing in the professional group. What advice did Thomas and the other classmates give me? To take everything that comes and enjoy everything as much as possible to have a long career».
A career that promises to be full of effort, adventures, happy moments and more complicated ones. August had a first taste of this during the third stage of the Euregio event, a stage characterized by rain and winter temperatures.
«In Schwaz I learned that it is even colder when it rains. It was definitely a brutal stage. The most intense cold I have ever felt during a race. I had already trained in the cold, but I had never run like that in the rain».
August, before Tota, had never even raced in Italy, a “first time” which adds to the many that the product of Hot Tubes Development Cycling (who in his free time loves “playing golf and spending time with friends ») has already put in his pocket this year and the others that he will add in the coming months. Overall, every experience gained could prove useful in turning what he today essentially considers hopes into reality.
«I hope to become an overall rider in the future. It’s my ambition». Only time will tell if he succeeded.
Copyright © TBW
