Patrick Casey, a 17-year- Irish cyclist has been selected as one of two riders from around the world as the winners of Red Bull Junior Brothers, a global talent scouting program aimed at finding the next generation of professional road cyclists.

Casey and Anatol Friedl from Austria will receive a contract with BORA-hansgrohe’s U19 team, Team Auto Eder, and a Red Bull athlete partnership deal.

At the age of just seventeen, Patrick showed impressive form at the performance camp in Austria which he attended alongside other hopefuls. Having already represented Team Ireland at junior level, and broken a 15 year old Irish 25 mile Junior record, Casey stood out showing potential as a good all-rounder with a strong potential to develop.

He was introduced to cycling at primary school and once he started, he never looked back. Hoping to emulate the success of his sporting heroes Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, he will now have the chance to hone his craft learning from the very best.

“I’m just very proud and really happy to have won it,” he said.

“It hasn’t set in quite yet and it probably won’t until next year when I’m racing with the team and racing in the Red Bull helmet.”

“When I’ve met everyone and experienced it, it will probably sink in a bit more and I’ll probably understand what it means, but for now I’m just over the moon.”

The announcement comes following months of hard work by Casey, which began in early summer with multiple rides on Zwift and Strava to impress the scouting team. The top performing riders from each route were then invited to submit an application video, with 15 riders then chosen to take part in a high-performance camp at Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Centre in Austria. It was from this camp that Casey and Friedl were selected.

“Patrick and Anatol showcased all round natural talent as individuals and one thing that really impressed us was their incredible determination and stamina,” said Dr. Christian Schrot, Head of Scouting and Development at BORA – hansgrohe.

“You can see they really want this and have the passion and drive to make it happen so it made our decision really easy. Cycling is not an easy sport, it takes guts and grit and that’s something that Patrick and Anatol have.”

This is the first year that the Red Bull Junior Brothers programme took place, and it will be back again in 2024.