Lorenzo Finn confirmed he is one of the teenage super talents of cycling with a dominant victory at the Giro Next Gen, with the Anglo-Italian set to join the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe WorldTour team in 2027 and continue to fast-track his career.
Finn was the junior road race world champion in Zurich in 2024, as Paul Seixas won the time trial title. The French rider opted to step up to WorldTour level with Decathlon-CMA CGM in 2025 and won the Tour de L'Avenir, but only gained time on Finn in the final mountain time trial.
Finn is just ten weeks younger than Seixas, both 19, and they seem destined to clash in future Grand Tours in the post-Pogačar and Vingegaard era.
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Their generational rivals include Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché), Héctor Álvarez (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), Mateo Ramírez and Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates Gen Z) and other precocious young riders who are part of the biggest development programmes.
Seixas showed his potential in 2025 and will make his Tour de France debut in July after improving at a rapid rate since January. Finn opted to stay in the Red Bull Development programme, but could be equally as talented and suited to stage races.
The Giro Next Gen is considered one of the most important Under 23 stage races, alongside the Tour de l'Avenir and the Giro Ciclistico Valle D'Aosta. Former winners include Tom Pidcock, Juan Ayuso and Widar. Mattia Cattaneo was the last Italian winner before Finn back in 2011.
Finn celebrated winning the Giro Next Gen with family and friends in L'Aquila after winning the final time trial stage to extend his winning margin to 2:10 on Ramírez, with the Italian Federation president hugging him twice even before the podium ceremony, knowing that Italy has one of the great future talents of the sport on which to rebuild cycling in Italy.
Finn has grown up in Italy and always raced for Italy, but his father is British and originally from Sheffield. Finn's origins are clear to see thanks to his perfect English and reserved nature. The emotions of overall victory only emerged when he shouted out in celebration after crossing the finish line.
"A weight came off my shoulders, especially because of all the work the team did for me. I started with a good advantage, but in a time trial, a simple error can mean you lose it all," Finn said.
"Since November, this was the big goal of the season. It's hard to put into words because people have seen the race on TV this week, but the work started almost a year ago. I have to thank my coach, John Wakefield; we've been building up to this, as has everyone on the team. The guys have been incredible this whole week.
"It's crazy. Watching this race as a junior, I thought it'd be nice just to be part of it. Winning it is super important for my development."
Finn will race alongside Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz in 2027 and could perhaps replace Primož Roglič in the team's stage race roster.
He has already raced with the Red Bull WorldTour team several times, with only a crash during the Tour of the Alps slowing his progress. Finn is likely to combine peaking for the Tour de L'Avenir and the World Championships in Canada with further WorldTour 'work experience' in the final months of the season.
"Being in this team since I was a Junior is a positive factor. I feel at home here and that goes beyond the results and includes the staff and all the back-up team. I've never thought of turning professional with another team," Finn told BiciPro.
"I don't know how we'll manage things next season, but I'm sure that I've stepped up massively compared to last year. I hope to keep improving every year.
"I've tested myself with the professionals already, but I know that WorldTour racing is very different. But I'm optimistic about my career path and development."
