My conversation with Josh Tarling starts with him telling me that he’s currently “house-hunting” for a place in Andorra. He has plans to move there in the winter, when his contract with Ineos Grenadiers will officially commence. It strikes me that this is a relatively adult activity for an 18-year-old who just finished school this year. It’s clear that Tarling, the newly-crowned junior world time trial champion, has a wise head on his shoulders.
“It’s hard to train in the UK in winter and next year is such a big step I need to throw everything at it I can,” he says. “Ineos has quite a lot of people in Andorra anyway, they have a little service course there, so I think it will be pretty perfect.”
Despite the Welshman’s mature answers and considered responses to my probing questions about his expectations for life in the WorldTour, there are still moments where his youth sneaks through. We start to talk about his recent Worlds ITT win in Australia, and why he thinks he’s so good at winning time trials (as well as the World Championships this year, Tarling has won every single UCI time trial he’s started, as well as the British National Championships).
“Really, I like all the fancy bikes and all the aero stuff,” he says, laughing as he realises he’s let his professional demeanour slip for a moment in that answer. As we keep talking, Tarling relaxes more and the light-hearted, amusing side to his personality begins to shine through.
“So the time trial went well at the Worlds,” he says. “But nothing went to plan in the road race, did it?” He’s referencing the bad crash he suffered in the early stages of the junior men’s road race, one that left him with severe abrasions down one side of his body, as well as injuries to his ribs.
“I think I crashed where they’d fixed the road and there’s a rubbery patch. I wasn’t braking or anything. It was just dead straight. I think it was at 70kmph that we slid out. I cheese grated myself,” he says.
Josh Tarling after crashing in the 2022 World Championships Junior Men’s Road Race (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix)
“It’s a bit painful and on the flight back to the UK, I had an aisle seat, so I kept getting nudged by the trolley,” he says with a jokey sigh.
See Josh Tarling at Rouleur Live 2022
Despite the injuries Tarling suffered, he continued to ride on after his crash to try and assist his teammates as much as he could. “It was okay for a while because I…