Andrew "AJ" August returned to the U.S. after a few eventful weeks in Europe, where he turned heads at a road training camp with Ineos Grenadiers and drew attention for wearing a shredded Team USA kit during a race at the World Cyclocross Championships.

At the start line of the Junior Men's Championships in Hogelheide, August was one of the favorites to take the rainbow jersey; at the Koppen Cross in November, he became the first American male rider to accomplish this feat. He followed that up with the junior men's title at the U.S. National Cyclocross Championships. Before the World Championships, he won four European cross races, including a fourth-place finish at the Benidorm World Cup.

Hochelheide's entry would be his last 'cross race as a junior. However, the plan went awry. A huge crash just after the start changed everything.

"It was a strange crash. I had a pretty good start, but right after the start I went off the pedal. This caused the rider behind me to overlap my rear wheel and start crashing and his weight was on my rear wheel. This sent me across the course and from there many other riders piled on top," he explained to Cycling News.

The massive pileup left the majority of the 72 riders, including August and his five American teammates, chased throughout the race. Despite losing much of his kit in the hard crash and showing noticeable abrasions, 17-year-old August attacked furiously on the course and set the fastest lap time. In an attempt to close the 1:38 gap to winner Leo Bijoux (FRA), August set the fastest time on lap 2 and then again on lap 6. But after only seven laps, he ran out of grass and time.

"I knew I was setting fast laps," August said. I crossed the finish line every lap and the gap to the leader was pretty consistent. At that point, I knew I was out of contention for the win, but I wanted to keep fighting anyway."

"I knew I had a good chance of winning the race," he said.

He finished 22nd overall, 1:41 behind Bijoux, with David Thompson in 16th, Magnus White in 20th, and Miles Mattern in 21st, with Dan English in 13th and Ben Stokes in 29th. Dan English and Ben Stokes finished 13th and 29th, respectively. This was a disappointing result, as they were in great shape after finishing 5th in the junior race the previous year.

"The race is over. The race is over. I'm moving on," August told Toby Stanton, the road team's sport director, a few hours after his experience in Vogelheide. In fact, when Cycling News magazine asked August if he kept his tattered team kit for future use, he replied, "Haha, there wasn't much left. I threw them away."

According to Stanton, who is also the founder of the Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team, in which Augusto will again be the star this season, the young American rider is "coolly analytical without being boastful," and since the team began 31 years ago, "He's a phenomenal kid, as good as I've ever had".

"It was a race he could have won," Stanton told Cycling News of August's ability going into the world championships. He then said he would have been able to keep up with the Frenchman [Bijoux] and would have had to be smart to beat him."

"He knows what he is capable of and when he fails he knows what he did. Like when he crashed at Hoogerheide, he admits it. He said, 'I was (too) aggressive there, I went too fast. I was like, 'Yeah, let's do it again.'"

He also said.

At last year's three-day Junior Vuelta, August finished second overall in the hot tubs and caught the attention of several WorldTour teams; he was invited to Ineos Grenadiers for a training camp when he visited Europe for cyclocross in January. The team already had one American rider on it, who happened to be Hot Tubes alumnus and August's role model, Magnus Sheffield, both from the small town of Pittsford, NY.

"One of my role models in cycling is Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers). He grew up just minutes from my house and I've been very inspired by what he's done," August told Cycling News in December.

According to Stanton, Sheffield is much larger, and while the two are physically different, their temperaments and talents are almost identical.

"That's one of AJ's biggest strengths, he can get things rolling just as well as Magnus, AJ is very organized and has a similar mentality. He's very flexible, but he thrives in a high structure," said Stanton, who spoke enthusiastically of his admiration for both New York natives.

August attended the Ineos camp in Mallorca for a few days before finishing his junior campaign at the World Cyclocross Championships. A few days later, he returned to the US, starting with the national-level Valley of the Sun stage race, followed by the Hot Tubes training camp in northern Georgia in March, a week of racing in California at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, and the June US Arizona for the transition to the road, including a European campaign spanning events in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Switzerland leading up to the US Junior Nationals in June.

"Definitely excited and ready for the road season," August said. I think the changes and new opportunities will only add to my excitement for the road season." I'm also looking forward to getting back together with my road teammates."