The 2024 road season brings with it 44 new faces in the WorldTour peloton as another batch of neo-pros make the step up to the top level of pro cycling. EF Education-EasyPost alone are bringing through seven of those youngsters as part of a youth revolution at the American squad.
Son of Joseba, Markel Beloki, is among them, as is Giro della Valle d'Aosta champion Darren Rafferty. Another rider taking his first steps as a pro this year is the 21-year-old Briton Jack Rootkin-Gray.
Fresh off a season with British Conti squad Saint Piran which saw him win the Ringerike GP, take fourth at the Junior Worlds in Glasgow, and race among WorldTour pros in Norway and Britain, he made his WorldTour bow at the season-opening Tour Down Under.
Before heading to Australia, Rootkin-Gray took time out from training in Tenerife to talk to Cyclingnews about his big move, how he got his start in cycling, his highlights and struggles so far, and his racing ambitions.
Cyclingnews: You're turning pro with EF this year. How have you're first experiences with the team been?
Jack Rootkin-Gray: I came to Tenerife from training camp and then to Australia from the 30th for the Tour Down Under so that'll be pretty cool. Camp was super busy – you don't realise how much you do other than cycling. There's a lot more to the job.
I know it's the first camp and there's a lot more media and other things involved, maybe more than normal. There was so much going on with meetings and presentations. It feels like you haven't done any riding even though we've done 19 hours in six days or something. There's just so much else going on.
I've met one or two people before but everyone was really friendly. It was really nice time. I didn't expect how nice they'd be. I roomed with Archie Ryan at camp and by the end of the week it felt like we'd known each other for years.
CN: Do you have your neo-pro season all planned out already?
JR-G: I've had my full calendar. I don't know if I'm allowed to share or not but the Tour Down Under is the first one. Then after that, I'll have a bit of a quieter February and then do some Classics. Then some other stuff before Nationals because you only get half the year planned.
I think [racing the cobbles] will be part of my role within the team, to do that calendar of races. I really like those races so that'll be good.
CN: You've spent a year with Saint Piran after moving up from the juniors and you've already done some .Pro level races like the Tour of Britain and Tour of Norway. What do you expect from this next step up?
JR-G: I've got a pretty tough calendar with a lot of WorldTour races on it. I was asking a lot of questions to the older riders at camp about what it's going to be like. I know it's going to be a big step and I know it's probably going to be really hard, but other than that it's just about trying to keep your chin up when it's hard, keep going and be ready for it.
Those Pro races are great but what I've heard is that they're just a completely different level to the WorldTour races. At those races, you get a small proportion of the field at that [WorldTour] level and then at WorldTour everyone is at that level, so it makes it a whole lot harder. Although I've done those races and they give you a bit of confidence that you've raced against the best guys, there's still a bit of trepidation going into those WorldTour races.
James Shaw was saying to me 'Whatever it would be at a .Pro race, just add 3-5kph'. If you're racing into a pinch point or a sprint it'll be 65kph instead of 60kph. So, it's just that bit quicker.
CN: You've reached the top level of the sport with EF Education-Cannondale, but how did you get started in cycling?
JR-G: Back where I lived in Solihull in the Midlands there was a closed cycling circuit in the local park. I was walking through there one day and there was something going on there. I just really wanted to get involved – it looked fun.
My dad rode to work and stuff but none of my family were really cyclists so it all boiled down to that club in the local park which I stayed with until the end of my first year in the juniors. I did 13 years there.
They also had Jake Stewart and Ben Healy. It was a great group of people at that time. I don't think many places were better. Obviously, you have VCL in London but other than that I think it was unbeatable – two sessions a week, Tuesday and Thursday. Ride at the weekends, so much going on.
CN: When EF announced your signing they noted that you competed in multiple sports growing up. Has cycling always been the number one? And who did you look up to?
JR-G: I was completely in love with it from when I was six or seven. From then on, I said I wanted to be a pro. That's all I've ever wanted to do.
The first hero was Chris Hoy. I was a bit chunky, so I thought I was going to be a track sprinter. Then it was Fabian Cancellara. He was super stylish. I think when I was in that real honeymoon phase, he was just like 'the man'.
Then I had various different heroes like Niki Terpstra when he was doing the Classics as well, and Michael Valgren, so it's pretty sick to actually be at the camp with him.
CN: You've raced track, but now it's all about the road for you.
JR-G: It was always road and track in the GB Academy. I think I didn't have such a great time at the senior academy. I don't think I was ready to move away from home. There were a lot of different things going on. I loved all the other parts of it but I had a couple of tough years at that point in my life. I think I had too much on my plate and wasn't ready to move – a wrong place, wrong time kind of thing.
I used to love track, but I just found myself doing better on the road and went in that direction. And I think the training for the road is just so much more enjoyable. That's what everyone loves cycling for, isn't it? Not riding around a velodrome, driving there and back.
I did Nationals last January just to see if I still liked it or not or whether it was a situational thing. I got a third in the scratch race, but I was like 'I haven't actually enjoyed this weekend' and I thought, 'Yeah, that's it for me'.
CN: You said that you've never wanted to do anything else. Has that belief ever wavered?
JR-G: I applied to the London School of Economics, and I was going to take a place that I got offered, but I was convinced to give it one more go by a bit of a mentor figure to me. I think the situational aspect of life when I moved away made me not really enjoy cycling enough.
But, I think when you really want something, you think about giving up and you're like 'Fuck that; if I'm not this then...' There wasn't ever really a Plan B – not because I couldn't do anything else, but because I didn't want to do anything else in life. I thought of what life would be like if I wasn't doing that and I was like 'Nah, I don't want to do that'.
Even though at the time I really didn't want to ride a bike, I didn't see myself doing anything else, so I just kept going.
CN: Making the step up now must be the biggest highlight of your career to date but what else has stood out on the journey so far?
JR-G: Probably my first highlight was the Beaumont Trophy last year. That and the Ryedale GP were kind of a turning point, going from not having that much confidence to finding a good rhythm and really enjoying it.
And then forming that friendship with [mentor and former Saint Piran teammate] Alex Richardson which is a long-standing thing – he's really helped me. I think his big thing is that some people just need a bit of direction. So, I think he just picked me up maybe at a point where I was a bit lost – I'd been moved on from the GB squad. He kind of took me under his wing at Saint Piran and gave me confidence, which is really the main thing.
Winning my first UCI race in Norway [the Ringerike GP] was another highlight and then even just being selected for World Championships, to be honest. I was really happy to be selected and I didn't expect to be involved with the GB setup again so soon after leaving.
I was really happy to be there and had a great race at home, too, especially with that crowd. It was on the BBC so it was free to watch. People around the course were watching on their phones and so gradually throughout the race, you heard more and more people shouting your name, so that was quite cool.
CN: You've scored some top results in hilly races coming up through the junior and U23 ranks. Is that the kind of race you're hoping to target now you're in the pros?
JR-G: I'd say I'm just a racer, to be honest, kind of an all-round racer. I like the tactical side of it, though I'm probably not great if it's too hilly. But if it's shorter climbs – I'm a puncheur, I'd say.
I'd like to see how I evolve as a rider, to see if I can do the slightly hillier races like Liège-Bastoge-Liège, Clásica San Sebastián, that kind of thing. But I love all the one-day races. They're a really cool part of the sport.
Also, for a rider like me, the World Championships are an opportunity because it tends to be a punchy course. There's the odd exception with a really hilly or flat one but maybe seven or eight out of 10 editions it's a good opportunity for a rider like me. So, that would be a career goal, for sure.
CN: And is there one race that stands above the rest as an ambition of yours?
JR-G: I remember when I was 13 or something writing down that I want to win a Monument, win the World Championships, and win a Grand Tour stage.
I think I'd still agree with that now. I'd love any one of them – it'd be an amazing career if I were to win any of them.
