Gray Barnett is an enterprising 17-year-old. Now in his third season with the EF Education-ONTO development squad, Barnett has demonstrated maturity on and off the bike – even when he was home in Greenville, South Carolina and his bike went ‘missing’ 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometres) away in Brussels, Belgium.
Barnett is the reigning US men’s 15-16 junior time trial national champion. In 2023 at junior road nationals, he also scored top 10s in the road race and criterium, those events won by his teammates – Enzo Hincapie in the road race and Peyton Burkel in the criterium.
“His time as a 16-year-old would have been second place in the 17-18 bracket if he was competing against those guys at Nationals. So we’re very excited about Gray. He’s a stunning talent,” the team’s director Rusty Miller told Cyclingnews.
“Gray is a true all-rounder who can climb, time trial and sprint among the best. But what sets him apart from riders his age is a certain maturity and attention to detail. When it comes to loading the van, for example, or cleaning up after a team dinner, I can count on him to be a leader.”
Growing up in the steep, forested foothills south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Barnett is not just a time trial rider. In 2022 he won the category 3 division of the Carter County Omnium road race in Virginia, known as the Roan Groan, that featured 7,020 feet of elevation gain over 55 miles. He was part of the 2023 squad that won the overall at the U17 Tour de l’Ain in France, finishing third on GC himself, and also finished second in the amateur finals at Athens Twilight Criterium.
Earlier this month, he won the GC title at the three-day La Primavera in Lago Vista, Texas, the third of six stops on the USA Juniors Cup series, and was named to Team USA’s squad to race Paris-Roubaix Juniors. Cyclingnews caught up with Barnett to discover how bikes became a big part of his life, what he thought about the international attention on CNN and his aspirations to ride like Tadej Pogačar.
Cyclingnews: Have you always been interested in riding bikes as a young child, or were you into other sports?
Gray Barnett: Growing up I played soccer for nine years. I started cycling when I was around 8 years old.
CN: Tell us a little about your family and what you like to do off the bike in Greenville.
GB: I live with my parents and younger sister Lucy. They also all love to exercise, my sister runs cross country, my dad also runs, and my mom is in the gym almost every day. When…
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