Pablo Torres, after his sensational ride on Colle delle Finestre at Tour de l'Avenir: "Very proud despite not taking the overall victory"

The Tour de l'Avenir 2024 is over, and it was an edition that gives so much hope for the future of Spanish cycling. Pablo Torres, only 18 years old, has absolutely obliterated everyone and everything in the final stage with finish on Colle delle Finestre and even though he doesn't take home the GC win, his future seems more than certain.

The UAE Team Emirates Gen Z rider scored two stage victories, including the last one of the race, which also brought him within a whisker of an overall victory that would have been a sensational achievement. However, Torres fell 12 seconds short of Joe Blackmore, despite crossing the finish line with a lead of 3 minutes and 43 seconds over the Briton.

Even so, there is no 'but' to the performance of Pablo Torres in the Tour de l'Avenir. He himself has confirmed it in statements made to the Real Federación Española de Ciclismo: "We couldn't take the overall but we are very proud anyway."

Regarding his spectacular stage win, Torres pointed out how it unfolded with initial doubts: "Today's stage at the beginning I didn't look so good. Yesterday was very hard, but as the kilometers went by I felt better and better. At the beginning of the last (mountain) pass the team did an exceptional job, they were already supporting me from the beginning of the stage, they set a very, very hard pace."

"When I attacked, Blackmore at first managed to keep up the pace for a few kilometers, but in the end I ended up going solo, and the truth is that we are very happy," concluded a Pablo Torres who is already, by far, one of the great jewels that Spanish cycling will have to promote in the future.

If it wasn't enough by itself, Torres wiped the floor with previous fastest time on the climb set by Jose Rujano at the 2011 Giro d'Italia by more than a minute in a performance that would put him among the best riders even in a WorldTour peloton. After this performance there's not a shadow of doubt Torres has a bright future ahead in World Tour, but at which team is to be confirmed (although most likely is he'll stay within UAE Team Emirates).