Post race chat: Jacob Vaughan

After his win at the Perfs Pedal, VeloUK spoke to race winner Jacob Vaughan about the race and his season goals #riderchat

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Post race chat: Jacob Vaughan

After Jacob Vaughan had won the Perfs Pedal for his new team Canyon DHB, we had a chat with the former Lotto Soudal Under 23 rider about the race where he and Alex Paton were the key riders for the five man team in the season opener.

“The team said it was between me and Paton but I wasn’t sure how I would be going but I think the race in Mallorca helped me form wise.” There was a lot of pressure on Jacob’s young shoulders to win the race with a lot of people tipping him for the win including his own teammates.

Asked about that, he says “I struggled to sleep last night because I had so much pressure going into the race but I am glad for Tim I managed to deliver.”

Jacob for the last few years has been racing as an Under 23 in the Lotto Soudal team and when asked how it felt to return to Britain after racing in Europe with that team, he replied “It was a good setup at Lotto Soudal but it was hard being a foreign rider in such a Belgian orientated team. I felt I was never given a chance in the races so I am really enjoying being at Canyon where there’s a lot of great banter.”

Asked what his goals were now going from an under 23 team and into a British UCI Continental one, Jacob replied “It is a step up for me and our race calendar is similar with the Holland Cup and all the UCI races there and I’d love to get a podium in a UCI race this year. The team have also entered a lot of Under 23 and Under 25 races this year so we’ll get to do them too which is great”.
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“My next major race I think is the Le Samyn (UCI 1.1) although I will probably do a National B road race before then. When you go to a UCI race, you know you can sit in the bunch where as here we have to make the race from the front so in a way, it is almost harder in these races. There was so much more pressure on my shoulders here as well than there was in Mallorca.”

Talking about his preparation for the Perfs in the pro race, Challenge Mallorca, he says “Tim put me in two of the hardest stages, two and three. In one of the races, Lotto Soudal put the hammer down from the start and there were so many crashes, you were always fighting for the back and guys were getting lost all the time. Tim Wellens was in real good form like he always is at this time of year so it was hard to climb with the best climbers in the world.”

On the subject of his future in the sport, Jacob explained “I’d love to take a step up in a few years to ProConti or WorldTour and so I think this team will be a great help to me. The Belgian races will suit me more than something like Challenge Mallorca. I don’t mind climbs a couple of K long, but when its gets to 20k, it has me breathing out of my ass!”

Good luck Jacob, great to see you back here 

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