Adrien Costa turned 19 on the eve of the Tour de l'Avenir Friday evening, and the crowd of Puy-en-Velay, Auvergne, cheered the American gem during the team presentation with a "Joyeux Anniversaire" song - "Happy Birthday" in French, a language that the Californian rider speaks perfectly, with both his parents coming from the other side of the Atlantic.
Despite his young age, Costa proved Monday that he is a rising star in the U23 category by crushing the time trial stage at the Tour de l'Avenir. On the 16.5km course around Lugny, Burgundy, he beat his countryman, Neilsson Powless, by two seconds and Britain's Jonathan Dibben by seven seconds, becoming the first American to capture a stage at the "Little Tour de France" since Taylor Phinney in 2010.
"I am surprised to win because there were some time trial specialists at the start," he told Cyclingnews after his stage win. "But I am in good shape and the Tour de l'Avenir is my main goal this year."
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Earlier this year, Costa won the Tour de Bretagne, a UCI 2.2 event, and went second at the 2.HC Tour of Utah behind Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and ahead of Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac). These results confirmed the promise shown in his junior years, when he won overall at the Tour de l'Abitibi in Canada, and twice won the general classification at the Tour du Pays de Vaud in Switzerland.
Costa's new challenge is to win the main stage races for the U23 category, even if he states he has "no pressure". This all-rounder, who performs equally well in the high mountains, small climbs and time trials, showed his ambitions Monday by launching a powerful and unexpected attack on a relatively quiet stage, spreading some panic among the other favourites.
"You always have to try," Costa said. "I like races when they are unpredictable. I love mountains, and I will be on my favourite terrain in the coming days [from Wednesday to Saturday, ed.]. But I enjoy everything in cycling."
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