Peebles cyclist Callum Thornley saddling up for first season with new team

The then-18-year-old surprised everyone, apart from himself perhaps, by finishing second in the under-23s’ time-trial at the championships in Dumfries.

“The British championships are probably the biggest opportunity to showcase yourself to the big teams,” said the Peebles cyclist, now 19.

“The goal I’d written down was to medal, but that was just a really optimistic goal in my head.

“It was amazing getting second, but at the same time it was really motivating to go and win this year.”

That result put him on the radar of cycling agent Andrew McQuaid, also boss of Trinity Racing, the team responsible for launching the careers of top British riders including Olympic mountain bike gold medallist Tom Pidcock, from Leeds, and Linlithgow multi-discipline star Cameron Mason.

“I’m really, really excited,” he told us. “It’s the best opportunity I’m ever going to get. For me, if I give 100% when I’m in this team and I don’t make it, then I was never going to make it.”

Thornley can remember being inspired to first ride a bike as a child on holiday.

“When I was younger, we were lucky enough to go on holidays to France quite a lot and they coincided with the Tour de France quite often,” he recalled.

“We watched the Tour at Tourmalet and Hautacam and a few other places.

“I started mountain-biking at Glentress. Peebles Cycling Club put on these dirt crits, short 15-minute races on a Thursday night. I just remember proper buzzing for them during the day at school and then coming home and having my tuna pasta then firing up to go to Glentress and doing this race and there was a cake stall after it. Just the whole thing was great.

“Then I started going to the local chain gang and I did Peebles Cycling Club’s time-trials. I just loved doing that. From then, I knew that the road was what I wanted to do.”

After making his way through cycling’s junior ranks, Thornley entered his first season as a senior in 2022, racing for club team Wheelbase CabTech Castelli.

He competed in most of the top events on the British Cycling premier calendar, achieving several top-ten results and finishing the series in fourth place overall.

“It was a pretty big surprise,” he said. “It was the first time I was stepping up to race at the senior level. I had no idea where I would sit in that bunch and how I would get on but I surprised myself.”

Thornley recently spent time with his new team on a warm weather training camp in Spain and reckons he is already benefiting from the experience of the team’s sports directors, all of whom have raced at the top of the sport.

“Pete Kennaugh, Nicolas Roche and Jon Mould are the three sports directors,” he said.

“Nico’s doing a lot of gravel-racing this year so he was riding with us every day. He’s just a brilliant guy and he’s got so much knowledge, and likewise with Pete and John.”

Thornley was impressed by the professionalism of his new team, saying: “It’s just a bigger scale.

“At the camp, we received our kit. It was crazy – it was like Christmas – and with having a mechanic, after the ride you just leave your bike and it’s there for you the next day, clean with the gears working perfectly.

“It’s incredible. It feels like it will take a lot to get used to.”

Thornley is motivated for the season ahead and has set himself some lofty goals, with the International Cycling Union world championships in Scotland being at the forefront of his mind.

“I’ve written down three goals,” he said. “I’d like to win the British time-trial under-23 championships this year, which I think will be doable if I prepare in the same way I did last year, then from there I’ll hopefully get selected for the world championships and get a medal. The third goal is to win a UCI road race.

“The main thing from the road-racing side is just really learning every race. I’ve got so much learning to do and already at the camp I’ve just tried to be a sponge and absorb it all.”

Thornley hopes all that learning will help him to follow fellow Borderer Oscar Onley into the upper echelons of the sport, the Kelso 20-year-old riding for Team DSM these days.

“I want to stay at Trinity for two years and just gain as much experience as I can and then in 2025 to have a world tour contract nailed down,” he said.

“Obviously, you’ve got your dreams of winning these massive races, but I’m just going to control the things I can control and not let myself get too high when I do well and too low if something bad happens.”

Thornley is beginning his season in Portugal and is tackling his first-ever stage race, the Volta ao Alentejo, this week.