Michiel Mouris (Grenke-Auto Eder) won this year's Paris-Roubaix Juniors on a solo effort in the 22nd edition of the one-day race.
From a large chasing group of 15 riders, which hit the first lap of the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux as the Dutch rider raised his arms in celebration, Ashlin Barry (Team USA) out-kicked Mikita Babovich (Cannibal-Victorious U19 Devo) to complete the podium.
"I have to be really satisfied without a race win. I felt in control and I rode really well. Unfortunately, the sprint was for second, not the win, but I think if I can keep racing like this then the [wins] will come," the 17-year-old US rider told Cyclingnews after the finish.
Mouris, the men's junior time trial European champion last year, had built a 3:20 lead in tandem with Frenchman Arthur Alexandre (Argenteuil Val de Seine Cyclisme 95) headed to the final 20km. However, Alexandre crashed on sector 4, leaving Mouris on his own.
Wearing the stars-and-stripes jersey as the men's 17-18 road champion, Barry made his move to increase the pace of the chasing pack with 11km to go. Once on the outdoor velodrome, his track instinct kicked in and he sprinted ahead of Babovich, who had won the E3 Saxo Classic junior race at the end of March riding 10 seconds ahead of Barry for the victory.
"It was just tactical in the final. Maybe I could have played it a little better. All things considered, I think I kept my cool pretty well and executed it," stated Barry, who in March won two silver medals at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Konya, Turkey.
Last year as a 16-year-old, Barry finished seventh at Paris-Roubaix Juniors with EF Education-ONTO. He then went on to win junior road and time trial national titles for the US, having switched from riding for Canada with a dual citizenship. Barry signed with Visma-Lease a Bike's junior development programme JEGG-SKIL-DJR this year and looked to move up through the system to the WorldTour.
"Hopefully I'll do the under-23 race next year and maybe the pro race in two to three years. It's exciting," he said.
Team USA fielded a strong team for the 110.3km race, Barry riding with Rowan Child, Enzo Edmonds, Enzo Hincapie, Caden Freyre and Ben Juracich. Hincapie, who came into the race on good form winning a stage and going second on GC at International Cottbus Junior Stage Race, crashed three times and snapped a chain.
"It's hard to work with your teammates in this race, just because it's so hectic. We have a strong team here, we're all riding really well together. Like last week when we were in Germany, we were all racing well and had good results."
Previous juniors who captured victory on the junior cobbled Classic and have gone on to WorldTour careers include Geraint Thomas, who won the first edition in 2004, Jasper Stuyven (2010), Florian Sénéchal (2011), Mads Würtz Schmidt (2012), Mads Pedersen (2013) and Tom Pidcock (2017).
In his first appearance at Paris-Roubaix Juniors in 2015, Tadej Pogačar finished 30th. He is one of the favourites alongside Pedersen in the elite race Sunday.
