Q&A: Louis Herring (Prologue Junior Race Team)

Quiz time with Prologue Junior Race Team’s new recruit for 2025, Louis Herring. A second-year junior, Louis, who reached the finals of the Red Bull Junior Brothers Competition, joins the squad with a climbing pedigree well-suited to Prologue’s European ambition

Q&A: Louis Herring (Prologue Junior Race Team)
Quiz time with Prologue Junior Race Team’s new recruit for 2025, Louis Herring (seen in the white helmet). A second-year junior, Louis, who reached the finals of the Red Bull Junior Brothers Competition, joins the squad with a climbing pedigree well-suited to Prologue’s European ambition

Q: What are your favourite disciplines in cycling?
Louis: I’ve always been a road rider; I don’t particularly have the skill set or confidence for downhill mountain biking and never really got into cyclocross. I do enjoy a bit of gravel riding occasionally though. I stick some knobbly tyres on my road bike and try to find some new paths, although it usually ends up with me knee deep in mud and walking!

Q: Who will you be racing for in 2025?
Louis: I’ll be racing for the Prologue Junior Race Team. It’s a team I am already familiar with having had the opportunity to guest ride for them a lot abroad last year.

Q: When do you expect your season to start in 2025?
Louis: The season will start in early March in Alicante for a UCI Time Trial and then a hilly road race the next day. I’m really looking forward to getting racing again after the long winter of preparation.

Q: What are the key events in 2025 are looking forward to?
Louis: I’m looking forward to all the international trips planned for next year, in particular I’d like to have a good ride at the opening two UCIs in Alicante. A result there would put you right up there in the international junior standings.

Q: How have you found the racing in Europe compared to the UK and how can racing here improve?
Louis: I’ve raced in UCI events in Belgium, France and Switzerland. I think the main difference in terms of the organisation of the race is the whole road is closed. This means that the races can get UCI status and leads to a much greater depth of talent, with riders coming from many different countries to race.

As a result of the struggle to close both lanes in the UK, there isn’t a chance for the races to draw top level riders from the continent. I’d love to see a Junior race like Cicle Classic or the Tour of Wales secure UCI status as it would improve junior racing in the UK hugely, but it looks unlikely to happen in the near future.

I also think that there should be more youth races that are on the roads, not just closed circuits. In countries like Belgium and France, youth riders have the opportunity to race like juniors, on longer more demanding courses. In the UK, youth riders are not allowed to compete in any open road races, so that step up from youth to junior level is massive. They go from racing around circuits with 40 riders to racing over Belgian Pavé or mountain passes with 150 other riders.

In my opinion, there needs be an opportunity for second year youth riders who have secured enough points, to have the opportunity to race like they will the following year, in National B or regional open road races, so the gap between British riders and the rest at junior level is much smaller.

Q: What were our 2024 Season highlights?
Louis: Stage 2 of the Tour of Wales was a good one for me. I was slightly disappointed from the day before in the time trial, so was doing my best to get into the breakaway. I ended up in a breakaway with National champion Oliver Dawson and a couple of other good riders and we worked well together.

It was going well until I lost the wheel on the penultimate climb and thought it was day over until I looked behind me and saw a small group full of the strongest riders of the race. A quarter of an hour later, we’d caught the front two and were rotating well when three of us hit a pothole hard. My mate, Matthew Peace punctured along with an Irish rider, whilst I lost some pressure and sealant in my rear tyre and snapped my Garmin holder. It then was down to just six of us. In the end, I held on to them up the final climb just about to go into the Youth Jersey and 5th on the stage.

Q: What was the toughest race in 2024?
Louis: Stage 2b of GP Ruebliland in Switzerland. I’d been invited to guest ride for Prologue. Unfortunately, with heavy fog and rain, our flight the night before the race to Zurich was cancelled. So, me & three teammates had to organise a trip down to London overnight, and a 3am morning flight on the day of the race. The first stage wasn’t too bad, but the following two stages the day after were brutal. I remember going down one of the biggest descents I’d ever done in the morning and then was told after the stage that we’d then have to go up it in the afternoon. Despite how hard it was, it was still an incredible experience.

Good luck Louis in 2025 … awesome read that was!

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