QUIZ TIME: WHAT AN AMAZING Q&A! First year Under 23, Britain’s Joe Turnbull, who raced for the Prologue Junior team for two years, is now heading for the Basque country for 2025! Here’s one of the best Q&As with so much insight into his racing – thanks Joe and good luck with the Basque team…
QUIZ TIME: Britain’s Joe Turnbull
Q: I hear you’re heading to the Basque country Joe for the season – that must be quite exciting!
JOE: Exciting & nerve wracking all at once. I spent five weeks out there last year after the team (Prologue) had ridden the Tour of the Basque so I have a feel for the place but obviously I’m stepping up to Under 23 so there are some butterflies for sure. And I will be living on my own so there’s been plenty going on at home on the cooking and domestic front so Mum at least doesn’t fret too much and knows I will survive! I’m joining Sima Cepial an Under 23 team based in Vitoria, Basque.
Q: How did signing for a team in the Basque country come about – did you race there with the Prologue team?
JOE: I was with Prologue these last two years and somehow my Dad, who manages the team, got us a slot in the Tour of the Basque. Off the back of that, as I was about to finish A levels, we looked for some guest slots to see if I could stay on with a local team for the summer as a taster to see if (A) could I survive? and (B) would I enjoy it? A small Junior team got back to us, Arabarrak Kirol, based in Vitoria, and that was that. In the five weeks with them I rode Vuelta Pamplona and a series of one day races. It was great racing.
Q: Racing abroad, what are the goals? Is it the adventure of racing there or a mix of that and looking to get results to move up in the sport?
JOE: I’ve had a roller coaster in my cycling life to date. Too small for circuit racing really so youth stuff was always a battle, Covid and limited racing followed and then I fractured my femur in 2022 in a nasty crash so that was the end of that year. Then, 2023 was a comeback year when I had some amazing highs, 3rd in a UCI race in France and some hard times but I loved the junior racing which felt more real and proper, more so in the lumpy stuff.
Clinging on the back of the front group up Black Mountain and the Tumble in the Tour of Wales with guys who have since went on to World Tour Devo Teams abroad was mega. In 2024, I struggled with Long Covid, prolonged issues with my chest and Whooping Cough which blighted my entire year but I battled on. We then discovered I had issues with malnutrition despite eating what I felt like all the time.
So, to answer the question, 2025 is a voyage of discovery. At my best, I’ve been up there and competitive and I want to see what might happen with a solid season or two under my belt and at least experience it and have no regrets. I’m lucky to have my parents support and all of us see it as a life experience if nothing else. Learn a language, live in a different country and best of all race some amazing races in stunning scenery with a bit of sunshine!!
The aim this year is to try get up there, be competitive, do a job for the team, learn and see if that secures a slot in one of the bigger Spanish development teams. But also just enjoy it.
Q: What do you expect the biggest challenges will be – the racing or adapting to living in a foreign country or both?
JOE: I will be living alone certainly for this year so I think the biggest challenge is the time off the bike. I’m taking Spanish lessons and I know a few folk in the region so I’m hoping to see them from time to time. I’ve reached out to riders like Louis Sutton, Fin Hawker & Lucas Towers. I plan to do all I can to integrate into my team Sima Cepial and I’m told there are plenty of pros in the town where I will be based who I will be able to ride with. That I think is the biggest challenge, time off the bike more so than the racing.
Q: How long have you been bike racing now?
JOE: Gosh, I think we started around the time I was 12. I’d ridden since I was about 8 or 9 and got the bug off my Dad when we realised my professional football career was not going to happen. (I was awful lol)
Q: When do you expect your season to start in 2025?
JOE: My first race in Spain is 1st March although I’m intending to ride Clayton Velo in the UK prior, just to get back in the race groove a little.
Q: Do you know yet of any events in 2025 that you are looking forward too?
JOE: My race schedule is due to land any day. The racing is frequent in Basque, it has a huge programme so I want to review that with my coach and ensure we don’t get carried away and I don’t burn out. They are a small team but tend to be in most of the races with the bigger squads like Caja Rural, Equip Finisher, Polti Kometa so certainly this first year it’s about learning and developing and not expecting too much. They are hoping for a ride in Vuelta Bidasoa which Louis Sutton won last year so that would be amazing if we get in.
Q: I expect the races there will be very lumpy, is that something that appeals to you as a rider…
JOE: I’m super thin and was always had a laugh with the lads for being so small. I’ve shot up now and 6ft but still skinny, a Yorkshire Hugh Carthy in a way. But that has meant I’ve always enjoyed the climbs so that does appeal. I think anyone that knows me would agree heading off to Belgium and cobbles was unlikely to be a worthwhile exercise. In the past, I remember Simon Beldon my coach having to push me downhill to stay in the group on a club ride and my tiny gloves when I was younger always made the lads laugh!
Q: 2024 was a challenging year for you .. what were the biggest challenges?
JOE: After 2023 I had supreme confidence. I was 3rd in the GP Plouay, 20th in Tour of Wales but climbing with the best the country had to offer, 2nd in a local super hilly race but to Tom Martin who was super strong and rides as an Elite now and up there in some other National events. So we had high hopes but then it all went pear shaped.
We as a family all got really poorly over the winter but I just didn’t recover. It was stop start all year, back and forth to the doctors. We had high hopes and a race programme ideally suited for me but instead I either crashed or was dropped week in week out. In France, Classic Du Sud, a race with a Mountain top finish made for me, I was dropped in the first 10k. I rode the entire thing in front of the broom wagon with one other rider. I was crushed at the finish and it’s tough when your teammates are thriving, but I don’t give up easy.
Then, in the summer, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer whilst I was in Basque. I came home and racing was no longer a priority. But with the help of Simon and in turn Ellen McDermott who has guided us as a family with my nutrition, Peter Gascoigne with my strength, we started to get somewhere. In the end we’ve had loads of tests done to get me back on my feet and best of all mum had successful surgery and has just gone back to work with the all clear. I have an awful lot of people to thank!
Interview continued after the advert …
Q: When trying to race and focus on racing, but having such challenges can be so hard mentally. Would you agree that the mental side of racing can have just as much effect on a riders ability to race well as physical issues?
JOE: I think it’s a super hard sport, there are so many variables which is its beauty as the best man doesn’t always win but gosh how tough. You train like a pro to be average these days! And with that there is a lot of isolation, you do your sessions so can’t always train in a group and you lose that social contact. And now with this obsession with teams taking on junior riders, you feel a pressure to get somewhere by 18 or forget it. I think some kids do have it, just look at Matty Brennan et al, but I think some start to believe its going to happen for them and they along with their parents get carried along on the ride. But my Dad raced so is quick to remind me how brutal it is and how many don’t get there. That wasn’t a problem when he raced as he tells me of loads of top races locally and nationally with loads of teams so the UK was a viable option and racing abroad was only for the few who really were super talented.
Nowadays, to have a go proper, just to get away from racing on a closed circuit, your almost forced to up sticks and go abroad, the scene and nature of the racing in the UK is struggling so much and so limited, more so if your built like me. And that adds a huge amount of pressure on riders desperate to have a go at an age where you’re still maturing physically and mentally.
I’ve also had to manage my A levels while I was at college over 20 miles away, trying to train mostly alone and study and it was hard. One of the reasons I suspect my health suffered. But I don’t want to race on circuits or run the risk of oncoming traffic on our roads. I feel safer in a bunch of 180 riders winding down a descent I’ve never been down before in Spain than I would riding our local closed circuit, Brownlee, the scene of my broken leg.
Q: Were there any racing highlights in 2024?
JOE: Despite having dreadful condition and having crashed days prior, quite badly, I got a top 10 for my team in Basque at a one day race, the Estella Cup. Over there, you have race radios but to make it into the move and have Esteban, the team manager, encouraging me in his broken English / Spanish in my ear piece rolling through at the front was really good and I felt I paid them back for the faith they showed in me.
Also, as a team (Prologue) we had some amazing results and I played my part to help as best I could given my condition. Tour of Basque was hugely successful, winning stage 1 with Nathan Smith and then trying to help him along with Luca Bednarek who was guesting for us but had secured the points jersey and Fin Hawker who for a stage or two had the KOM jersey. Bitter sweet as at my best, I knew I could have challenged also.
Q: What result are you most proud of so far in your racing career?
JOE: For sure, my 3rd in my first UCI race, GP Plouay. It might have been luck but we had our briefing in the morning, we had done our recon and my Dad had said “ just role the f****** dice” in his usual emotional but passionate, blunt way. “None of you will make an impact in the sprint and there are teams who are far stronger and drilled than us, AG2R for example”. So come the last lap before a series of stinging climbs, coming into a really narrow technical section I rolled the dice and went alone starting what was to be the winning move. But the race was on, it wasn’t as if they sat up and I pottered off, it was FULL GAS. The fact I hung on for 3rd gives me confidence. The two guys I was away with are now at WT Devo teams. I just want to get back to that level.
Q: Are there key people who are helping you progress in the sport of cycling?
JOE: Mum and Dad obviously. They have been unbelievable. Mum doesn’t see me race much as she gets too anxious but she’s there behind the scenes. My Dad raced and is pretty handy on the race tactics and reading a race stuff so that is a huge help.
Simon Beldon who has kept an eye on me since I was about 12 and looks after me fully these days. My Dad wanted that expert input and as he says the hardest thing is to back off, it’s so easy to get carried away and overtrain when things are going well. I think he has a brilliant insight into riders of the youth and junior age groups. The Brownlee sessions we all attended on a Thursday night have turned out a few decent riders. His son Alex, Oli and Matty Peace, Bjorn Koert, Cat Ferguson, Imogen Wolf, we all had some schooling from Simon and his band of helpers every Tuesday or Thursday every winter. It was thanks to him those sessions happened and we all owe him and the guys a thank you as it was freezing some nights but brilliant training.
Ellen McDermott who Simon referred us to. She’s done my diet plans and nutrition plans this last year and got me back on my feet. Esteban, my team manager in Spain, who offered me a chance last season when I was pretty rubbish and has done so again as he looks after the Sima Cepial team I am joining.
The Rayner foundation who are supporting me this year and a load of folk Callum Twelves, Lucas Towers, Sam Hollis we’ve sought out, my Dad and I, for advice on Visas, Teams, living abroad, Brexit! etc. Having Matty Brennan call when your shopping in town to help you with your visa application then watch the Tour Down Under and see him podium is bonkers. They have all been super helpful.
My friends and teammates. Junior racing abroad is quite the adventure. Our very first trip to Murcia was just the best, we raced hard and laughed all week. You need that.
Q: With a new year dawning, how has your 2025 winter training been going?
JOE: Fit and healthy! It’s not that I’m going amazing it’s just that I’ve not missed more than two days training to date. Mind you, I’m longing for some sunshine now.
Q: Finally, is the training base work still or structured efforts to get you ready for racing?
JOE: Simon had me do a lot of base work initially, given I have missed so much development over the years but now we are starting to build in some speed stuff and the long miles are reducing. I’ve also done a lot of weights and strength work. I need to keep that up, one to help me get stronger generally but as important to get the full strength back of the leg I broke.
Good luck Joe in 2025 and fingers crossed for a mega season in Spain…. thank you for a mega Q&A!
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