A quick glance through ProCyclingStats makes Lukas Nerurkar’s pathway to the WorldTour look like a cookie-cutter progression. His strong results as a junior led to a contract with Trinity Racing – formerly one of the best development teams in the world – then breakthrough performances at prestigious under-23 races like Ronde de l'Isard, Tour l’Avenir and Giro Next Gen caught the attention of the WorldTour. A pro contract with EF Education-EasyPost came next and Nerurkar was on his way to the top of professional cycling, living out the dream he’d had since he was a child. If you sit down and talk to the 21-year-old, though, it becomes clear that his sporting journey has been far from usual.
“I grew up in Ethiopia until I was seven, we had a friend who brought us a couple of bikes and my dad took me up to the mountains in Addis Ababa. I didn’t know I wanted to be a cyclist, but I just knew I preferred that over running,” Nerurkar explains.
The Nerurkar family was based in Ethiopia due to Lukas’ father’s own running career. His dad, Richard, was an Olympic marathon and 10,000-metre runner and moved the family after he had hung up his racing flats. He’d always trained in Africa and loved the atmosphere there. Nerurkar explains that his father has been a source of guidance throughout his cycling career so far.
“He understands sport in general. His running career came fairly slowly. He went through school and he was decent but not the best in the country. It was when he went to university and to America that he really took a step up,” Nerurkar says. “He came into his prime when he was 25 or 26, taking small improvements every year without a massive jump, similar to what I have done.”
From a physiological standpoint, Nerurkar also shares attributes with his dad: “We're both endurance athletes and have that engine needed to be able to do that. I think I’m different from him as I’ve got a bit more punch than he did as a runner – his success was in the marathon which was a long burn.”
Although Nerurkar relocated to Brighton when he was seven years old, he believes that his years living in Addis Ababa could have made some tangible differences in his cycling performances, especially when riding at high altitudes.
“I guess I did an altitude camp at the age of seven,” he laughs. “I’m not sure of the exact effects of living there but I do feel like when I first go up to altitude now I’ve got a gain on other guys and it doesn’t take me as long to get acclimatised, so maybe that’s an underlying benefit.”
Altitude or not, it’s clear that Nerurkar has a natural talent on two wheels. He argues that his progression has been steady, but this is by both his own high standards and those set by the people he is surrounded by. Once he was back based in the UK, Nerurkar grew up racing alongside other current WorldTour professionals such as Fred Wright, Ethan Hayter and Tom Gloag – he explains that training with them helped push forward his progression.
“My whole cycling career, I've always had people to ride with and a good support network, they’re all my mates,” Nerurkar says. “When I was at Trinity I had Tom Gloag a couple of years ahead of me and I saw how he dealt with going professional, so it became a realistic thing for me despite me not getting results in my first year under-23. I realised if I kept plugging away and I could still go professional in my third or fourth year, the options were open.”
In an era where cycling’s superstars are getting younger and younger, Nerurkar explains that he had to remain focused on his own, unique journey in the sport. He was still completing his A-Levels as a first-year under-23, rather than committing to cycling full-time, something that was important to him despite it inevitably impacting the number of race days and training hours he could do. It was in his second year as an under-23 when he placed full focus on his racing that Nerurkar was able to take a real step up.
“I was able to live in Girona then which made a difference, then did a full winter out in Spain surrounded by other professionals which helps to normalise racing and training. It meant I was going to races with WorldTour guys but it didn’t feel as intimidating as I’d been training with them anyway, it was a confidence thing as much as physical,” he says.
Winning the white jersey and finishing in sixth place at O Gran Camiño in 2023 – a race which was won by Jonas Vingegaard – was a breakthrough moment for Nerurkar.
“I was going well in training before Gran Camiño but I’d never translated that into a race before then. The first stage I did well, I was almost confused, then I had to figure out if it was a one time thing. When the race carried on like that, it set a new standard,” Nerurkar says. “Being on the podium at points with Vingegaard, that was pretty special, it was a pinch-me moment once the adrenaline had worn off. But in the race you treat everyone the same.”
The big ride in Spain from Nerurkar kickstarted a new wave of self-belief that he rode through the rest of that 2023 season: he took a stage win in the under-23 Giro and top-10 finishes at the Czech Tour and the Tour de l’Avenir. Unsurprisingly, the WorldTour contracts came knocking, even earlier in Nerurkar’s career than he could have dared to dream of.
“Gran Camiño made me realise this is where I want to be. Every race you want to improve a little bit and doing under-23 races also taught me how to win a race – it showed me that I can sprint better than a lot of the guys I can climb with,” he explains. “EF was the team I really wanted to go to and I was happy with them after going on one of their training camps. I signed for them early before the Giro which took some of the pressure off for the rest of the season.”
It’s not hard to see why EF Education-EasyPost makes sense for Nerurkar: the American squad places a focus on having a good development pathway and allowing riders to forge their own route to the top – something that Nerurkar has done for his entire career.
“They have a different approach, if they believe you can be competitive in races they will give you the chance, whereas in other teams I think there’s more hierarchy. If you can perform straight away they will let you, and they will let you try a mix of races rather than putting you into one box. It’s not a copy and paste for every rider,” Nerurkar says.
In his first year with EF, Nerurkar got a taste of it all, riding events like Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race as well as shorter stage races including Paris-Nice and Coppi e Bartali. An unexpected fourth place finish at Eschborn-Frankfurt, a punchy one-day German WorldTour race is proof of Nerurkar’s versatility, and it’s why he’s so intent on not being pigeon-holed into a specific type of rider too soon.
“I was keen to do a bit of everything in my first year and the kind of rider I am, I can do lead-outs and race up climbs,” Nerurkar says. “I also liked racing finales in smaller races because I got my head kicked in a lot of WorldTour races, so if I’d just done them it could have been a bit demoralising. But instead it’s good to see where I need to progress.
“The options are still very open when it comes to what type of rider I am, in the future I think I’ll find out exactly what I’m good at. I find myself climbing well and being able to sprint off the back of it, but I can also do alright in high mountains. I think I can get better at that in years to come.”
Despite only being 21, Nerurkar has a wise head on his shoulders. He appears acutely aware that he’s on his own voyage through the world of professional cycling, and he isn’t afraid of taking his time to develop. Maybe it’s thanks to the lessons he’s learned from his father that Nerurkar isn’t getting ahead of himself when it comes to ambitions for the future. His goals for 2025 are simple: he’d like to win a race, of any level, and take part in his first Grand Tour. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit for Nerurkar – his prospects are as high as the altitude he grew up in.
