After missing the 2020 season altogether due to a coronavirus pandemic that canceled all racing in the US and Europe, 2019 Tour de Beauce winner Brendan Lim is taking no chances on the future, signing with Ireland's EvoPro Racing, committed to racing in Europe in 2021.

Lim was planning his first full European campaign with the Hincapie-Leomo team this season, traveling with the team to Girona just before the pandemic shut down the entire continent. The team soon returned to the U.S., but ultimately the entire season of professional racing in the U.S. was canceled.

Earlier this month, Hincapie's team announced it was ending, and to protect his cycling career, Lim had to act quickly and join a European team where he would have a chance to race.

"With the team gone, I had to make a difficult decision," Lim said. After being cooped up in the U.S. all summer without racing, I decided I needed to take things into my own hands for 2021." I applied to about 50 Continental teams, but as you can imagine, I struggled quite a bit. The market was more competitive this year than ever before. Combined with the end of the Hincapie program, we were in a panic."

Fortunately, a few team directors responded, and EvoPro director Morgan Fox, who had already signed former US champion Johnny Brown in July, offered him a spot.

"From my first conversation with Morgan Fox, I instantly felt part of their family, and I can't wait to take on the One Day Race in 2021 and be a part of the future of his program," Lim said.

Fox said the team is always interested in young talent, especially "riders who might have slipped through the U23 net."

"We feel that Brendan's addition will make us more competitive in the sprint trains and classic Nordic hardman races," Fox added.

Lim won the fourth stage criterium and sprint class from Cal Giant Specialized at the 2015 Redlands Bicycle Classic, winning the criterium and road race D2 college titles at Furman University. However, that summer, while racing with the U.S. National Team in Belgium, he crashed in rainy Kermesse, breaking his patella, collarbone, and wrist.

In 2016, while still in college, he moved to Hincapie's team, then known as the Holowesko-Citadel, and placed third in the 2017 U23 national championships, behind Nielson Powles and Gage Hecht. 2018 saw him win the time trial of the Jo Martin stage race and won the final stage of Redlands to finish second overall; 2019 was a breakthrough year, winning the Tour de Beauce stage race and finishing third behind Marco Canola and Travis McCabe in the fourth stage sprint of the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.

"Last year I was able to win the Tour de Beauce overall, finish 6th in the ProNational despite the infamous "Beauce Cold," and finish the season in the top 3 in the Tour of Utah stages. I thought these results would be enough to draw interest from the big teams, but unfortunately it wasn't enough."

Lim said he had interest from other US Continental teams, but felt he had unfinished business after the 2020 season and needed to go abroad.

"In my mind, 2020 was going to be my first attempt at full-time training and racing in Europe. But as you know, everything fell apart in March."

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Today's Deal of the Day: U.S. [29]