We’ve had the Matteo Jorgenson explosion in Europe’s top races, now get ready for Kevin Vermaerke to emulate his compatriot.

Vermaerke, who rides for Picnic PostNL, enjoyed his best-ever season in 2024, finishing fourth at Clásica San Sebastián and performing well in various second-tier stage races.

Now the Californian is ready to not only score his first professional win but to regularly be in the hunt for the biggest victories in hilly one-day races and undulating stage races.

“Last year I started consistently putting it together in races with lots of top-fives and -10s, but I was missing the little conversion to turn them into wins,” the 24-year-old told Velo.

“The next step is continuing that, and now I know I can be up there, I need to prove it to myself and start winning these races.”

This article was published by Velo in February 2025. You can read the full article here.