Davey Wilson / submitted photoCycling media have labeled Bend's Adrien Costa as one of the world's best young riders.

Adrien Costa might owe his burgeoning career as a professional cyclist to the soccer coach who benched him in middle school.

He had broken an arm while mountain biking, and the coach was not keen on giving Costa much playing time after his recovery.

“I kind of got fed up with it, and I’ve been doing just cycling since then,” says the 19-year-old, who moved to Bend last year from Los Altos, California. “I played soccer for a long time, but cycling was always my passion in the background.”

Cycling is no longer in the background for Costa, as he has blossomed into one of the most promising young riders in the world.

He recently wrapped up an incredible season for a cyclist of any age, winning the Tour de Bretagne in France, taking second overall at the Tour of Utah and placing third overall at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in California.

“I really didn’t expect to be so successful, honestly, because I was just going into this season just looking for experience, and to get used to racing in Europe more and the amount of race days,” Costa says. “I definitely gained tons of valuable experience. I was pretty surprised and happy to see that from the first races of the season I could be up there attacking and getting results. It’s been good.”

Costa was even named to the U.S. squad for the men’s U23 race at the 2016 road world championships in Doha, Qatar, but he elected not to compete because he felt the course did not play to his strengths. The race is set for Oct. 13.

“The course doesn’t really suit me that well, and traveling all the way to Qatar just for a one-day race that I won’t be able to do much in anyway didn’t really make sense,” Costa says.

Costa is a two-time silver medalist in the junior individual time trial at the world championships, and in May he became the first American winner ever in the 50-year history of the seven-day Tour de Bretagne. According to cyclingnews.com, he won over the French media there, as both of his parents are French and thus he has dual citizenship. He still has family in Europe and he speaks French fluently.

“For me, I think that was probably a bigger result than Utah, just because it was a race that really put me out of my comfort level with all day on small, narrow roads, and always fighting for position in the wind and rain,” Costa says, recounting the Bretagne win. “Whereas I prefer the longer climbs and stuff like Utah. Utah was the kind of race that suits me perfectly.”

Costa moved with his parents and two younger siblings from the Bay Area to Bend in summer 2015. He plans to make Bend his home base during his offseasons each fall, and he is currently taking business classes at OSU-Cascades, already preparing for a career after cycling. When the 2017 racing season begins and he travels back to Europe in January, Costa plans to continue his studies online.

“They have a really strong online offering, so as an athlete that’s super helpful,” Costa says of OSU-Cascades. “You can be remote pursuing your passion, but still keep your brain engaged and working toward life after cycling.”

Growing up in the Silicon Valley, Costa was raised in an area rife with cyclists. He lived near a velodrome in San Jose, and he connected with many young riders, teams and professionals.

After taking extra classes, Costa finished high school a year early and spent three months of his final junior season in Europe racing with the U.S. national team.

Now Costa rides for the Axeon Hagens Berman Continental U23 team run by Axel Merckx, the son of five-time Tour de France champion and Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx.

But Costa was familiar with Axel Merckx long before this season. Visiting Central Oregon in 2009 when Bend hosted the U.S. cycling amateur national championships, a 12-year-old Costa asked Merckx (who was here directing his team) for his autograph.

“It’s been amazing,” Costa says of riding on Merckx’s team. “In Utah the group dynamic was really amazing. Everyone’s so willing to help each other out and sacrifice. It’s a great dynamic where everyone’s kind of pushing themselves to a higher level, and we’ve seen that with the incredible results that everyone’s been able to get on the team this year. And having Axel as a director, his experience growing up as the son of Eddy Merckx, I think it taught him a lot about the development of young riders and what to do, what not to do.”

Costa’s long-term goals include signing on with a top pro team one day and racing in some of cycling’s biggest races, such as the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. But he recognizes that, at only 19, he has plenty of time to work his way up through the U23 ranks.

“For me, that’s the goal, to race those races and hopefully be able to be competitive in them as well, but that’s still a long ways out,” Costa says. “The life of professional cyclists, you’re so lucky to travel the world and see amazing places and experience all these different cultures. As long as I can do that for a living, I’ll be pretty happy.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com