Meet Lorenzo Finn, Italy’s teenage cycling super talent with an Irish grandmother

About nine months before Lorenzo Finn first announced himself as the best junior rider in the world, his father Peter sought out an agent who understood something about the rise of the teenage super talents. At that stage few people outside of Italian cycling had witnessed his son’s potential, and no one could have imagined how swiftly he was about to flaunt it.Starting with the 2024 World Championships in Zurich, where Finn won the junior road race by more than two minutes, earning his first rainbow jersey, the upward trajectory has rarely been less than astonishing. Within the last 12 months he became the first ever rider to win a world under-23 title (while still only 18), then add the Giro Next Gen and Tour de l’Avenir by similarly commanding margins – the two most prestigious and often most telling development races in the sport.No wonder Finn is now being heralded as the future of Italian cycling. A mighty burden for any teenager, although his English and Irish roots have also helped keep him grounded. Perhaps adding some balance too. Because no one close to Finn is rushing his development. No pressure either.Born and raised in Genoa, a relatively late draw to the local cycling scene, there was never any doubt Finn would ride for Italy. His perfectly soft-spoken English comes via his father Peter, who moved to Genoa from Sheffield, and married Finn’s Italian mother, Chiara. Then there’s a proud and close connection to his grandmother Mary Hickey – Peter’s mother – who hailed from Derrygoolin, close to Woodford in southeast Galway, where the relatives are also part of Finn’s fast-growing cycling fan club.READ MOREIt was that Irish connection that also prompted Peter to seek out the cycling agent Jamie Barlow, who is from Ardfinnan, just outside Clonmel, and whose Protégé Sports Management had already earned a reputation for carefully nurturing the careers of other teenage super talents. When Barlow first sat down with Finn and his parents in Genoa, at the end of 2023, the agreed plan was to take things slowly, one step at a time.On Sunday, Finn will take another step up when riding the 273km elite men’s race at the World Championships in Montreal. In the absence of Tadej Pogacar, the two-time defending champion from Slovenia who is recovering from a crash in the Vuelta a España, the race is considered the most open in years. “I made the decision to race elite,” Finn says, “because it’s nice to test myself against the best without huge expectations. I’m excited to see where I’m at, and support the national team on the day. I will get stuck in and see how it goes.”Finn doesn’t turn 20 until December, and is riding in Montreal mostly for the experience, given the Giro Next Gen and l’Avenir were his two chief targets this year. He could have taken on the under-23 race for another three years.Lorenzo Finn: ‘I’m very fortunate to have huge support across Genoa, Italy, Sheffield and Ireland. The fan club is definitely growing.’ Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images Even when his career swiftly blossomed, they stuck with the plan. Which is why after signing with the big-moneyed German team Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe, Finn rode with their rookie squad for the last two years before making his move into the pro peloton proper in 2027.In the eight-stage Giro Next Gen in June, Finn demonstrated remarkable versatility, winning the mountainous stage six, and final time trial, in what was described by Velo magazine as “Pogacar-esque”. In the Tour de l’Avenir in August, long considered an under-23 Tour de France, he joined the likes of future Tour champions Greg LeMond and Miguel Indurain, also becoming the first Italian winner in 53 years.[ Irish cyclist turning pro pays tribute to brother (16) killed in training crashOpens in new window ]“Maybe more a relief, as they were my big objectives for 2026,” Finn says of those victories. “They were the main reason I stayed at under-23 level, to try win both races, and race in the Worlds Champ jersey. They were the races that excited me most.“And I’m very fortunate to have huge support across Genoa, Italy, Sheffield and Ireland. The fan club is definitely growing. We had close to 50 people for the final two stages in l’Avenir, with some of my schoolfriends on the top of the mountain from 7am, before the roads were closed.”With no family background in cycling, Finn’s first sporting pursuits as a youngster were tennis, and football, where Peter first noticed his son’s dedication and resilience: “I really only started cycling after developing a knee issue, and I fell in love with it,” Finn says. “Initially I was playing and enjoying football and tennis, then started to take cycling serious from maybe 15, 16.”Barlow had raced as a junior in Ireland, before stepping into the agency business when spending seven years with Andrew McQuaid’s Trinity Sports Management, with prominent Irish riders Sam Bennett and Ben Healy on their books. Then in 2021 he went out on his own, setting up Protégé to focus on emerging cyclist talents, including rising British stars Cat Ferguson and Josh Tarling.Lorenzo Finn bites on his gold medal at the UCI 2025 Road World Championships in Kigali. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images “My initial connection with Lorenzo came from speaking with his dad,” Barlow says. “Lorenzo was still within the Italian club system, it’s quite old school, and Peter just wanted a sounding board to see might there be other avenues to explore. He’d read or seen a bit about what I’d done with other young talents, and my philosophy on how young riders should be protected, not rushed, or skipping steps.“At the time, no Italian junior had basically joined an international team. They all kind of stayed in Italy. So Lorenzo joined Team Grenke- Auto Eder (the under-19 wing of Bora-Hansgrohe), and he’s just gone from strength to strength.“But never in our wildest dreams did we think he’d achieve what he has since. Absolutely not. What he’s done, at 19, no rider has done in the history of the sport. And hopefully plenty more big days ahead.“Peter’s also very proud of his Irish roots, and even to this day, they’ve got supporter club T-shirts for Lorenzo, and there’s a shamrock on it. So he’s well aware of his connections to Ireland, and the UK, and obviously to Italy as well.”When Finn won the 2024 world junior title in Zurich, another teenager named Paul Seixas from France finished seventh, over four minutes down, having already won the time trial. He went pro the following year, with Decathlon CMA, and this summer became the youngest rider to start the Tour de France since 1937, finishing an outstanding fourth. Seixas turned 20 on Thursday, and is among the possible contenders for the title on Sunday.“It’s definitely a very strong era,” Finn says, “with no shortage of top talent. From a spectator perspective it should make for great viewing over the coming years.”Barlow says there are no guarantees with any teenage talent, but that Finn’s approach is the more sensible. “With Finn it’s a hybrid of things, in that he’s an exceptional talent, and also works super hard. But I think the sport is just trending younger and younger. And Lorenzo is just part of these special talents that are now going to come through, and at some point, try to dethrone Pogacar.[ Is Tadej Pogacar simply too good for his own good?Opens in new window ]“But I think Lorenzo did it the right way, didn’t skip steps. He’s still living at home, maybe a little bit spoiled by an Italian mother. That will change in January, when he turns pro. Sometimes it’s a lot more than just being strong on a bike. You have to learn to fend for yourself, be responsible for paying bills, all of that. “In one way, it probably does need to slow down a little. It’s kind of a race to find the next 15- or 16-year-old. Which is a bit ridiculous, because they’re still in school. Then you look at what they’re doing at 18, 19, every team is trying to find the next big talent.”No Italian rider has won a Grand Tour in 10 years, not since Vincenzo Nibali triumphed in the 2016 Giro. Even if Finn is being talked about as a rider who might possibly end that wait, that’s another step entirely.“I’ll sit with the team in November, December, and put a plan in place for what the season might look like. It would be amazing to do a Grand Tour but it will come when the team and I feel ready, not before then. I’ve not skipped development steps the past few seasons so I don’t need to rush my development and progression in 2027.[ Mick ‘The Iron Man’ Murphy: One of the most intriguing champions in all Irish sportOpens in new window ]“If it was up to me, of course, I’d love to start one of them. But there’s plenty of races to get stuck into and test myself over the coming seasons. Also I don’t know what kind of rider I will develop into. I love one-day hard races, but also like the stage races, so maybe a hybrid of both. We have time to figure it out.”