Josh Tarling may be one of the youngest racers in the WorldTour bunch next year, but at 194 centimetres tall, he’ll also be one of the tallest. As a junior racer in 2022, he was certainly head and shoulders above his peers.
On the road, he won the Tour de Gironde, and went on to triumph in time trials in the Trophée Centre Morbihan and LVM Saarland Trofeo. On the track, he turned out for Wales in the Team Pursuit at the Commonwealth Games and had European junior titles in the Omnium and Team Pursuit from last year.
The biggest win of his career came at the UCI Road World Championships, racing to junior time trial gold in Wollongong, 19 seconds ahead of closest challenger Hamish McKenzie. Before that result, the powerhouse had already been snapped up by INEOS Grenadiers. He is going straight from the junior ranks to the top tier, having signed a deal until the end of 2025.
It’s the beginning of an exciting journey for the 18-year-old Welshman, who will no doubt hope to enjoy as illustrious a career as past junior TT rainbow jersey winners Fabian Cancellara, Marcel Kittel and Michal Kwiatkowski.
Cyclingnews caught up with Tarling at the recent Rouleur Live show in London to hear about his whirlwind season, initial experiences with INEOS Grenadiers and future hopes.
Cyclingnews: What are your first impressions of INEOS Grenadiers after the first winter camp?
Josh Tarling: It’s big and really cool, they’ve got the biggest support network going so it kind of takes all the nerves away. It’s like one big family, even though there are a million people there, and everyone’s so friendly and nice.
CN: Why did you choose INEOS Grenadiers?
JT: I love the family aspect of it. The amount of help they can give me is unreal, more than I could ask for. It’s the best place to learn and develop with the most experienced riders in the peloton. For me, it’s so exciting.
CN: How was the camp?
JT: I was supposed to room with Cam Wurf, but he had Covid. He did come to the end of the camp when he was negative. I was by myself [in the room], but we were always one big group for most of it. We went go-karting, I wasn’t the best, but didn’t do too bad. Tom Pidcock won: he’s light and I didn’t have the acceleration he had.
CN: Did you hear about where you’ll be racing and your 2023 programme?
JT: Not yet. I think there’ll be a chat about that soon.
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