GEORG PREIDLER

• Austria
• Age: 22
• Professional Since 2010

Georg Preidler-AUT, 21, finished 7th overall in this year's Tour de l'Avenir, a stage race for professional U23 riders, and won the five-stage Coppa delle Nazione in Italy. He also won Italy's one-day GP Palio del Recioto and came fifth in Austria's national championship road race.

Georg makes it look easy, but he knows how much hard work, how much attention to detail, how much rough suffering goes in to forging a career in the pro peloton. And he's ready. Hailing from the mountains and valleys of southern Austria, he has alpine heights in his backyard and nothing but blue skies ahead. Tall and rangy, he is a natural time trialist and a fit climber for the high ascents. And there is much to come from him, in the places where he would seemingly be unexpected - the sprints, the crosswinds, the rolling plains that decide the end of a four-hour day in the first twenty minutes.

2011 HIGHLIGHTS

• 1st GP Palio del Recinto, ITA
• 1st GC Toscana Coppa delle Nazioni, ITA
• 4th St3 Toscana Coppa delle Nazioni, ITA
• 5th Road Race National Championships, AUT
• 6th St2 Istrian Spring Trophy, CRO
• 7th GC Tour de l'Avenir, FRA
• 7th St1 Tour de l'Avenir, FRA
• 9th St5 Tour de l'Avenir, FRA
• 9th St4 Toscana Coppa delle Nazioni, ITA