Tom Paquet joins Leopard Pro Cycling as stagiaire
Leopard Pro Cycling has been able to secure the services of yet another big Luxembourgish talent as Tom Paquet will join the team for the remainder of the season, starting August the 1st.
The development of now 19-year-old Tom Paquet has not gone unnoticed. Already two years ago - Tom was only 17 years-old back then - he showed some early signs of potential with good performances in tough races in the junior ranks, such as the Grand Prix Bob Jungels and the Keizer der Juniores. In that same year, he already finished second in the National Championships behind his new teammate Loïc Bettendorff.
Tom can often be found amongst the first riders to cross the line, thanks to his qualities when it comes down to short and intense efforts. With not many races on the calendar last year, he was still able to show these strengths. He actually became the national road race champion, beating five others in the sprint. Also at the highly-rated Grand Prix Rüebliland in Switzerland, he showed his sprinting skills by coming in fourth in stage one, as first rider of the peloton.
This year, Tom continued to show progress as a first year U23-rider. At the National Championships, he was on the podium next to Leopard's Arthur Kluckers and Cedric Pries, before beating all current Luxembourgish Leopard-riders at the Festival Cycliste Schifflange, were he crossed he won with a solo-effort. His highlight of the 2021 campaign followed not long ago, when he crossed the line as fourth in the bunch sprint at the final stage of the L'Etoile d'Or, the UCI Nations Cup stage race that was won by Leopard's Filip Maciejuk. All in all, exciting times coming up for both Tom and Leopard Pro Cycling, in which the team will do its all to slowely introduce Tom to an higher level of racing.
Photographer
(c) Willy-sportfotos
Tom Paquet
"I am happy that Leopard Pro Cycling has offered me a place in their team as a stagiaire. It will help me in gaining racing experience, as this team is of the best to allow me to discover the high-level of the UCI Continental races, together with serious and dedicated coaching. I am hoping to show my skills in the second part of the year. Especially the Tour de l'Avenir will be a big goal for me and I hope that I will be able to do some nice sprints there in the first stages."
Markus Zingen, Team Manager
"We have been watching Tom already for quite some time, especially since he showed good results last year as a second year junior. Of course, like all youngsters, there were not many chances to show themselves due to the well-known reasons. However, we stayed in touch, and this year Tom continued to show a good progress and then it was clear that we like to have him as stagiaire. This is a good opportunity to get to know each other better and see him closer in the races. We are looking forward to the coming months and help him, with no pressure, with his further development."
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