When Harry Hudson walked into a bike-fit studio in spring 2025, he wasn’t looking for direction – only data. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t need anything else. The then 17-year-old, who was already competing at the sharp end of international junior racing, did not have a coach and was not looking for one. He was visiting physiologist and biomechanic Craig Stevenson at Elite Edge in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to garner some metrics on his form and efficiency. What happened next epitomised his approach to the sport.
“Harry took the results away, analysed them himself, added his own research, and built his own training plans,” says Tom Denwood, who oversaw Hudson’s racing at his old team Harrogate Nova. “At that point, he was effectively coaching himself.” In an era when almost every top junior is guided by an experienced performance coach, often an ex-pro, Hudson’s self-directed approach is remarkable, not least for the fact that it propelled him to a solo victory in the junior road race at the UCI World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. No British junior male had ever won the title before. Lidl-Trek had already spotted Hudson’s potential, and snapped him up for their Future Racing development team. In doing so, they have bagged one of Britain’s most promising talents.
