27/10/2024

"Quite punchy like Pogacar" - 18-year old 'school kid' finishes on the podium of E-Sport World Championships on his second-ever race

This Saturday saw the E-Sports World Championships that took place in the UAE. Whilst the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Peter Sagan grabbed most of the attention, lots of young riders took their chance in achieving greatness and exposure towards the top cycling teams. One such young man, of only 18 years of age, Kasper Borremans, was perhaps the rider who has attracted the most eyes.

Borremans is from Finland and said that this was only his second-ever E-Sports race, and he finished in third place behind Jason Osborne and Lionel Vusajin. Osborne coincidentally won this event in 2020 netting him a pro contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck, but retired from cycling this year to focus on rowing once again. In third place was Borremans who is a new name for most of the cycling world, but definitely not for the teams whose scouts have payed close attention to.

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Borremans is actually already under contract with a World Tour team, before now putting his name out there: "I signed with Bahrain, so I'll be a road cyclist next year. So, not esports. My coach said to do this so I just came here. In Finland it's winter, so I ride on Zwift. I still have school, so I can't go to Italy or Spain. That's why I do this. My coach said to do it," he told Cyclingnews after the race.

Over the next two seasons he will race with Bahrain's development team and then take the leap towards the World Tour structure in 2027 - his contract, currently, ends in 2028. He could be the team's new jewel if he manages to show this talent on the road, specially as he sees himself as a climber.

"I'm like, a long climber, 20 minutes, and then the short efforts I'm pretty good at that too. Quite punchy like Pogacar I think," he says. He admits that he is not short in ambitions and dreams of a Tour de France victory in the future, just like the rider he looks up to. "You need to believe in yourself. That’s the first thing. I think it's doable, but we will see how things happen. I want to keep my feet on the ground," he concluded.