Neo-pros to watch out for in 2024: Emil Herzog - the greatest German talent
Sebastian Lindner
· 11.01.2024
What the Tour de France is for the pros, the Tour de l'Avenir is for the U23s. And the Tour du Valromey for the juniors. Emil Herzog won it in 2022. As well as the Peace Tour for juniors, the Cottbus Junior Tour, the multi-day Grand Prix Rüebliland, the Grands Prix Primavera and West Bohemia. All of them are among the most important competitions in this age group on the road. Just like the World Championships.
Herzog secured this title in the last junior race of his career. After an attacking race, the Bavarian jumped ahead of the Portuguese rider Antonio Morgado, who had been in the lead up to that point, and then finished him off with a long sprint. In a single race, the then 17-year-old proved that in principle he has what it takes to take on the competition on any terrain: Fighting strength, tactical feeling, on the mountain, as a time trialist - which he also demonstrated separately three days earlier with world championship bronze - and ultimately also as a strong sprinter.
Illness slows Emil Herzog down
Herzog rode for the German team Auto Eder, the junior team of Bora-Hansgrohe. He did not dare take the step straight to the pros - as Marco Brenner, who was similarly strong, did two years before him and burnt his fingers in the process. He wanted to spend at least one year at U23 level. And he spent it at the American talent factory Hagens Berman Axeon, once founded as Trek Livestrong. A number of top riders from the peloton of the day travelled via the USA. Jasper Philipsen, Mikkel Bjerg and Joao Almeida are just a few of the winning riders from the World Tour.
Herzog also wants to follow this path. To do so, he put all his eggs in one basket, cancelling his police training and, before that, his A-levels. This has not yet paid off, at least not in 2023. Herzog only managed 22 race days between March and July. He only achieved one top 10 result against international competition - plus a 9th place at the German Time Trial Championships, but only in the U23 category. Health problems slowed him down, explained Herzog. "I had a small inflammation in my heart. It was only discovered relatively late, in mid-September. The season was already over by then. But it's been good again since the beginning of October. I'm also feeling much better," he said recently.
Bora-Hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk on Emil Herzog: "Maybe we already have the next Tom Pidcock"
Antonio Morgado, Herzog's inferior rival at the World Championships, followed the same path as the German, switching to Hagens Berman for the 2023 season. In contrast to the 19-year-old, however, success remained. He won the Tour of Rhodes (2.2), took silver at the U23 World Championships in Scotland and finished fourth in the U23 edition of the Tour of Lombardy. As a reward, he will ride alongside Tadej Pogacar for UAE Team Emirates in 2024.
Herzog, who actually wanted to make a career out of winter sports and become a cross-country skier, but switched to cycling due to the increasing lack of snow in Germany, will still see him again. This is because he will also be riding as a neo-pro in the World Tour with the German team Bora-Hansgrohe in the new season. The contract was signed relatively early on. "It was actually clear straight after the juniors that I would return to Bora after a year as an U23," says Herzog. Bora is counting on him. After all, team manager Ralph Denk was tempted to compare his jewel with one of the most talented all-rounders in the peloton at the beginning of last year. "Maybe we already have the next Tom Pidock."
Trend-setting year as a neo-pro at Bora
Like the British world champion and Olympic champion on the mountain bike, Herzog also spent a few days on the mountain bike in 2023. At the World Cup opener in Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic, he finished 10th in the U23 race. But things didn't go according to plan after that. In the end, he only managed 50th place at the U23 World Championships.
"It will be a big step, but I'm sure I've chosen the right environment for it," said Emil Herzog in August, when Bora announced the signing of the youngster from its own youth programme in a press release. "It's a dream come true for me. I had great years with Team Auto Eder and I'm looking forward to starting my professional career at Bora-Hansgrohe."
The direction in which his career will develop is still completely open. However, after the start of the season in Mallorca and the Tour of Oman, Herzog is expected to ride almost the entire classics season, including the important races. "I'm not the easiest, I'm certainly not going to be a GC rider. The classics could suit me quite well," he mused in a media round during Bora's team presentation. "But I don't necessarily want to become a classics rider. I want to try it out and if it goes well, it will be worth focussing more on it in the next few years. But if I see that it's not my thing, then that's not a problem either."
Emil Herzog
- was born on 6 October 2004
- has a German passport and lives in Simmerberg in the Allgäu region
- is 1.83 m tall and weighs 74 kg
- previously drove for Team Auto Eder (2021 and 2022) and Hagens Berman Axeon (2023)
- will ride for the Bora-Hansgrohe World Tour team from 2024 and has signed a contract there until the end of 2025
