Slowly but surely, and under the radar of all but the most die-hard of cycling fans, Callum Thornley is beginning to establish himself as one of Scotland’s brightest prospects on a bike.
Road racing may not traditionally be a sport in which Scotland churns out prospects but recent years have seen a wave of young, talented riders emerge, and Thornley is one of the most promising.
The 21-year-old rides for the UCI Continental team, Trinity Racing, and has taken quite remarkable strides forward this year.
His most eye-catching result came earlier this month when he won King of the Mountains at the prestigious Tour of Britain but in fact, he had several other notable results earlier in the year.
In his first year with Trinity in 2023 he was, he admits, rarely able to trouble the front of the peloton.
However, this year has been an entirely different story.
A top ten finish in Paris-Roubaix Espoirs then a second place on stage seven of the Giro d'Italia Next Gen – also known at the Baby Giro – were two particular highlights in what’s been a breakthrough season.
Perhaps surprisingly, however, the secret behind the Peebles native’s improvement has been going back to basics.
“The big change for me was I moved out of my family home to Girona a year ago and as a result of that, a lot of things changed,” he says.
“A lot of my training is now with riders who are better than me and last winter, I just tried to pick everyone’s brains as much as possible.
“It’s about doing the basics right – the main thing is nutrition and the next most important is sleep and if you focus on those things, you tend to feel good most days.
“And training in Scotland over the winter is hard – you’re constantly cold - whereas in Spain, it’s so much easier to get yourself out the door for a training ride.”
Thornley began as a downhill mountain biker before moving to cross-country.
It was when he tried his hand on the road, though, that his talent really began to shine through.
However he had something of a sliding doors moment in 2020 when he was within a whisker of giving up entirely on becoming an elite bike rider.
“During lockdown, I barely rode my bike for about six months,” he says.
“At that point, I was really unsure about what I was going to do – I was accepted into university but I decided not to go and to commit to cycling for one winter and see what happened. Until then, I’d been half-in, half-out of cycling but at that point, I decided to go all-in and see where it’d take me.
“So it’s funny to think how perfectly everything’s fallen into place since making that decision.”
Thornley’s most recent result, his King of the Mountains win at the Tour of Britain, suggests he’s in excellent form and it’s form he’s hopeful he can carry into his last ride of the season, at the UCI Road and Para-Cyling Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland, which begin today, although Thornley will not race until Friday when the men’s under-23 road race takes place.
Having finished 14th in the under-23 time trial at last year’s World Championships, Thornley is once again looking for a strong showing and he will, he hopes, help his GB teammate, Joe Blackmore to the rainbow jersey.
Already, though, Thornley has one eye on next season.
It’s yet to be announced officially where exactly the Scot is headed but it is, he confirms, a World Tour development team.
And despite his leap forward in 2024, he’s far from satisfied and so rather than resting on his laurels, he’s desperate to continue progressing up the ranks, however challenging that may be.
“This season, I have had a few moments where I was like wow, this is special. But the way my personality is, I’m always moving the goalposts so I’m never happy with where I am,” he says.
“For a start, I’ve not won a race yet so that’s a big target. And then if I can do that, the next targets will be going onto higher-level races and competing well in those. Each year and each level you move up, your targets move.
“I don’t think I need to make any massive changes in what I’m doing – it’s more about making small tweaks but the sport is always progressing so you never want to fall behind.”
Also in the 55-strong GB team for this week’s event are five of Thornley’s fellow Scots.
21-year-old Oscar Onley from Kelso, who made his Tour de France debut earlier this year, will ride the men’s road race.
In the para-events, Paralympic champion Fin Graham will be defending his C3 world title and will also contest the C1-3 time trial while Jenny Holl will pilot Englishwoman, Sophie Unwin in the road race.
Completing the Scottish contingent are Arabella Blackburn and Elliot Rowe, who are in the junior squad.
