Samuel Gaze, born in 95, is a New Zealand biker and road cyclist. True and authentic phenomenon in the youth categories, he wins 2 world titles among the U23s (2016 and 2017).
In those years he also won 2 national Criterium road titles. He experienced a rivalry with his compatriot Anthony Cooper, both very young and already among the first in the world: between the 2 there was a fight for the Olympic convocation in Rio 2016 (Gaze prevailed) and during the 2018 Commonwealth Games where Gaze was fined for showing the finger middle to Cooper.



Between the 2, with the passage of time and greater maturity, the frictions have decreased and Gaze apologized for his attitudes dictated by the heat of the moment (see facebook post dated 12 April 2018):
In 2018 he was the first New Zealander to win a World Cup stage by beating Nino Schurter: a spectacular sprint where he put behind a Schurter in top form (here is the spectacular video).
After this excellent performance, he was noticed by Quick Step (UCI road team) and Gaze decided to leave Team Specialized and pursue a career on the road as an intern with Quick Step (2019) and then with Alpecin-Fenix (current team ).



This led him to change preparation and lose the brilliant pace he had in MTB, without being able to shine on the road. From 2019 to 2021 he struggled to find his rhythm in MTB, even if at the end of last year he had sent out important signals (Sam Gaze's Nuanced Victory a Lenzerheide), but now it seems to be back: in fact just yesterday he has dominated the Albstadt short track (2nd stage of the World Cup).
Only time will tell if we have found a new MTB phenomenon, as the age is still on its side.
