This off-season has brought a momentous change in British cycling as the last vestiges of the nation’s golden era in the sport appear to have left top-level racing behind.
Geraint Thomas, 2018 Tour de France winner and double Olympic champion, has called time on a 20-year career to move into a backroom role at Ineos Grenadiers. 2015 world champion and triple Monument winner Lizzie Deignan, pregnant with her third child, has also hung up her wheels.
At the peak of their powers
First things first, let’s talk about the crop of riders who already appear to be at the peak of their powers. A host of riders in their early 30s and mid 20s includes a Grand Tour winner and Classics contenders, even if none have quite hit the heights of the legends of the previous generation.
Simon Yates, with wins at the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia under his belt, is the most accomplished name on this list of riders. Now 12 years into his career, 33-year-old Yates can count 11 Grand Tour stage wins on his palmarès, including three at the Tour de France, plus a Tirreno-Adriatico title, a couple of near-misses at Paris-Nice, and several other major stage races.
Many other riders listed here would be thrilled to accomplish a fraction of what he has during his time in the peloton, putting him at the top of the tree among the ‘interim’ generation of British riders.
His twin brother Adam is another rider closer to the end of his career than the start and another who has achieved plenty. He currently looks to be spending most of his time on the bike as part of Tadej Pogačar‘s winning machine, and can look back on plenty of successes himself, including wins at…
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