It was really raining in Zürich on Thursday afternoon. Not spitting, not a shower, but proper, wet rain. The kind of rain which for many cyclists means not going outside at all, or at the very least starting to think about the turbo trainer.
For the riders of the men's junior road race at the World Championships, there was no simple option. Many looked colder than they had ever been coming through the mix zone post race, with lycra not really offering much protection to the biblical elements. Just 90 riders finished of 158 in the end, and those that did were soaked.
Step forward Seb Grindley of Great Britain. In conditions that he must be pretty used to training in, the 18-year-old thrived, being part of the front group for much of the 127.2km race, and eventually taking silver 2:05 behind the solo winner, Lorenzo Finn of Italy. Third-placed Senna Remijn (Netherlands) was a further minute behind Grindley. It meant a second junior medal for GB on Thursday, after Cat Ferguson's victory earlier in the day.
"It was a tough race, in pretty grim conditions," the 18-year-old GB rider said. "It was nothing us Brits can't handle. I was sort of doing a rain dance last night hoping that it would be pretty grim, and it was. It was grim for myself, but you've got to think about the others, other people are as used to this [weather]. It made for a really tough race, and I kept myself on the front foot all day, and crossed the line in second place in the end, so I'm buzzing."
With about 73km to go, on the first lap of the tough city circuit, the decisive split of the race occurred, with about 11 riders heading up the road, never to be seen again. Among their number were Finn, Grindley, and Remijn, but also Héctor Álvarez (Spain) and defending champion Albert Withen Philipsen (Denmark).
"I was very confident up until the last lap," Grindley said. "It whittled down drastically, on that penultimate finishing course, until there were four of us. I thought a medal was definitely an option for me, and I thought maybe a jersey if I play my cards right. But if you're in that small a group, you can't really hide, you can't sit in the wheels. I got dropped up the proper steep climb after the finish and at that point I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hold onto a top five. I dug really deep there, I rode my own rhythm and the jersey had gone there. Finn was on another level there, but to get back to second place, I'm really happy with that.
"It would have been insane to get the jersey, but second place is definitely good, a podium was a big goal."
What seemed like a final quartet was established on the penultimate lap, consisting of Finn, Grindley, Álvarez and Withen Philipsen. However, Withen Philipsen crashed out, and then Álvarez ended up being caught by chasers, finishing sixth. Grindley held on, though, and clinched silver.
"When I initially got dropped, when Albert and Finn pushed up Bergstrasse, I was really suffering, on the verge of cramping," Grindley explained. "I knew I couldn't go over my limit otherwise it would be game over. I rode my rhythm, and thought it was heartbreaking, but a minute later on the second climb [the Witikon], I saw them and felt good. That's when I saw Lorenzo [Finn] going up the rode, but I clawed back Álvarez, and the confidence came back."
That confidence was enough to secure a podium at the World Championships, no mean feat. With the last of his junior races done, Grindley will head into his off-season, before a potential step up to a WorldTour development team next year.
