US junior time trial and road champion Ashlin Barry hit the accelerator on his path to the WorldTour, signing a multi-year deal with Visma-Lease a Bike this week.
In 2025, the 17-year-old will compete for the Dutch-based junior squad that partners with Visma-Lease a Bike, JEGG-SKIL-DJR Academy. After completing his final year as a junior, Barry will transition in 2026 to Visma's development team, which competes at the Continental level, or jump to the top tier.
"This is the first time we have signed someone so young directly for our WorldTeam," Robbert de Groot, head of development at Team Visma-Lease a Bike, said in a team press release.
"We see immense talent in Ashlin, along with significant room for growth. We are therefore very pleased that he will be part of our team in the coming years. It reflects our confidence in Ashlin’s potential and underscores our belief in long-term collaborations. Only by working closely with a talent from a young age can we fulfill their maximum potential.”
This past season Barry moved to EF Education-ONTO, the junior racing programme based out of South Carolina. He earned GC wins at Valley of the Sun stage race in Arizona and then Tour du Bocage et de l'Ernée in France, his first overall at a UCI stage race, then took a top 10 at Paris-Roubaix Juniors before sweeping two of three road events at US Nationals.
Barry is the son of successful pro cyclists and Olympians Michael Barry, of Canada, and Deirdre 'Dede' Demet-Barry, of USA. With dual citizenship, Barry committed to a USA Cycling racing licence for 2024, scoring three gold medals in January at The Next Generation event in the Netherlands, in the Elimination, Skratch and Tempo races, and a pair of silvers in pursuit events. He also swept the junior and elite titles with Enzo Edmonds at US Madison Track championships.
The transition to gravel was impressive, with a third at Paris To Ancaster and later an impressive victory at Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo, part of the UCI Gravel World Series, ahead of Canadian Benjamin Perry and Brennan Wertz, who later won the US gravel national title.
"Team Visma-Lease a Bike is truly a dream team. It’s incredibly inspiring to sign with the same team as riders like Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard. They are great examples of how you can develop further within this team," Barry stated in the team's press release.
"Of course, I’m still very young and in the process of discovering my specialties. I believe the classics and time trials might suit me best, but I’m confident that this team is the perfect choice to guide me on that journey."
Barry grew up in Toronto, Ontario where he and his siblings were encouraged to play multiple sports, and didn't focus on cycling until he was a teenager. He spoke to Cyclingnews in the spring about his interests in multiple disciplines in cycling as he looked a future career in the sport, calling it 'distant' at the time.
"I definitely want to race professionally. It’s hard to know what I can accomplish as it seems very distant. I’d like to combine racing on the road and track," he told Cyclingnews, admitting his road focus for spring 2025 was a victory at the junior Paris-Roubaix race.
"The Olympics in 2028 are a big goal for me to look towards, but there are a lot of goals I have before that. Racing with EF Education-ONTO since the start of last year has been a really great experience for me. I have learned a lot and had very good support."
Rusty Miller has been the team director of EF Education-ONTO for over a decade and gauges success not so much in victories but in nurturing young adults with racing abilities and life skills. He said Barry was ahead of the curve in both.
"We are proud to see Ashlin's ascent to the World Tour level. He's an incredible rider and a great human being," Miller told Cyclingnews. "We will all enjoy watching his progress in the upcoming years as we continue to bring along the next crop of North American talents already within our program."
The "development pyramid" provided by Visma-Lease a Bike turned out to be a golden opportunity for the emerging talent to speed up the clock on his pro career.
"Whether and how long he will race for the Development Team and when he will step up to the WorldTour will depend on his progress," De Groot explained. "Thanks to our development pyramid, which includes a junior, development, and WorldTeam, we can remain flexible and offer riders like Ashlin a tailored pathway to further their growth."
