The Chengdu World Cup will be a showdown of sorts. Lasse Nygaard Priester will be up against Jonas Schomburg as the race to claim the final place on the German Olympic team enters the home straight.
Priester will be wearing number 1 in Chengdu while Schomburg will be wearing number 2 and, based on their form over the past twelve months, they will likely be evenly matched. Priester was a multiple World Cup medallist last season, a haul which included a medal on Chinese soil in Weihai. For his part, Schomburg was also a World Cup medallist and logged a career-best WTCS finish in Cagliari.
Having ended his 2023 season with a bronze medal at the Miyazaki World Cup, Priester opened his account for 2024 with a DNF in Hong Kong. Schomburg also slipped outside the top-10 on the run at the recent Wollongong World Cup after strong work in the breakaway. As such, neither have yet caught fire this season.
When it comes to German Olympic qualification, whoever of Schomburg or Priester has the better Olympic ranking at the end of May (so long as they are in the top-30) will get the nod. Right note, Priester has an eight place gap to make up (being ranked 26th to Schomburg’s 18th).
As the man holding the cards by virtue of the better Olympic qualification ranking, Schomburg does not need a big result in Chengdu. Beating Priester, though, would do his hopes no harm at all. By contrast, Priester simply has to log a high finish. At this stage, a podium is really his only chance over catching Schomburg in the rankings.
At the same time, beyond the German battle, there are several potential spoilers. Crisanto Grajales won the Weihai World Cup last year, beating Priester with a terrific comeback on the run. Furthermore, Tayler Reid was denied a medal in Wollongong by a penalty but his form of late has been encouraging. Other World Cup medallists will also be in the fray in the form of Michele Sarzilla and Márk Dévay.
The presence of Reid and Dévay could also help to push a breakaway into place which would play into the hands of Schomburg.
From the home team, Junjie Fan will also be a threat. The Asian Sprint champion won the bronze medal at the Asian Championships over the Olympic distance last weekend. With local support on hand to boost him, Fan might become the first Chinese man to make a World Cup podium.
Two young contenders will also have to watched closely. Baptiste Passemard and Mitch Kolkman, the reigning World U23 Championships silver and bronze medallists, have the skillset to upset their older rivals and could feature prominently.
Overall, though, the men’s race in Chengdu will likely be shaped by the contest between two German athletes. Whereas Schomburg can afford to miss out on the top-10, though, Priester needs everything to go flawlessly.
TriStats Predictions
- Lasse Nygaard Priester
- Crisanto Grajales
- Junjie Fan
- Tayler Reid
- Baptiste Passemard
