Oskar Svendsen was on track to become one of the greatest cyclists ever. Back in 2012, at the age of 18, the Norwegian set the highest VO2 max ever recorded, 96.7ml/kg/min. Three weeks later, he won the World Junior TT Championships, beating Matej Mohorič by seven seconds. His fifth place a year later at the Tour de l’Avenir confirmed his brilliance. On paper, he was going to be unstoppable.
Were he starting out today, the young Svendsen would be snapped up by a WorldTour team on a multiyear contract. Instead, he stepped away from the sport in 2014, reportedly struggling with illness, injury and the weight of expectation.
While Svendsen is perhaps the most famous case, there are countless athletes who were touted for senior success after shining brightly while still at school. There will always be those junior stars who continue to shine as seniors – Tom Pidcock and Josh Tarling are two of the brightest-shining examples. They were
