With the 2024 season just around the corner I thought it would be best to let you into my plans for the forthcoming season.
Before we start with that, lets have a quick re-cap of this past season. I started racing pretty early on in January at the Velo29 race at Croft race circuit. Coming off a bout of covid, I wasn't really expecting much to be honest. A solid race coming in with a respectful 8th was a nice start and something to build. I then had a solid couple of weeks on the bike with a trainSharp team camp in Tenerife. Next was the Cicle classic in Rutland, quite a headliner on the calendar and the first time it has been run in March for us juniors. It was a complete mud fest. I got in the first move of the day, got brought back and then punctured. Kept chasing but got pulled as I was out the time limit. Race Over.
April was lots of local racing, and some decent weeks of training too. Managed to get a win in a 2/3/4 which was a nice reminder that the training was working. May came around, Welsh Champs month. I managed to get 3rd in the Circuit champs after a very tough and attacking race. Probably one of, if not the hardest race of the year. The TT and Road race came the week after. The TT was on the Saturday and was not good at all. I had a couple of mechanicals that hampered my results, but I paced it horribly and even without the mechanicals I wouldn't have got the result I wanted. I ended up 5th. Sunday was Road Race time. 120km of a circuit which was rolling, it had a key climb in it which determined the out come of the race. it didn't suit me much but I gave it my best. I got dropped on the 4th time up the main climb and never saw the front of the race again. 8th place Junior for me in that one.
Then for the next couple of months I raced Over in Spain with the Saxun-Extrusax-Primoti Junior Team. I was consistently fighting for the top 10 in most races I participated in. I was fortunate enough to race the Vuelta Valladolid. This is one of the biggest junior stage races in Spain and it attracted riders from all over Europe. I raced at the sharp end of the race and was in the breakaway on 2 out of the 3 days. I got a 13th place on stage 2 and 7th in the sprints competition, so was pretty chuffed. Then another couple of weeks training in the legs followed. After a decent block of training it was time for the Tour of Wales.
I was really looking forward to this one, especially with the stature of the race. I went into it with the goal of winning the sprints jersey but all of that went out the window after I was taken out in a crash on the first road stage. This resulted in me breaking my neck and another race over. A lot worse than it sounds, but it did mean it was game over for the season. It gave me chance to reflect on my season and it allowed me to unlock new motivation for the forthcoming season.
Right, now into plans for 2024. I will be staying with trainSharp for next season. They have great plans lined up for next year for a U23 rider like myself, with racing planned in France, Belgium and Holland. So I'm very excited to see where this will take me. Hopefully, I will be able to get a few UCI races under my belt as well as some good, hard racing here in the UK.
January is around the corner and I'm off to Calpe for 4 weeks winter training. I'll be staying with Blanca Bikes in Javea, the perfect location for a solid final block on the bike ahead of my first races at the end of February.
I'm pleased to announce that I also have a new personal sponsor on board next year as well as the continued support from Pedal Potential, Withington Physiotherapy and Cycle Service Course. This support is great because it allows me to fund trips abroad, to race bigger and better than I have before. I'm so grateful for the support and this opportunity to make my dreams come true.
Thanks for reading.