Just under a year ago, Josh Tarling was a great young prospect but he hadn't yet podiumed at the World Championships individual time trial, taken a WorldTour win at 19 or claimed the European ITT title. He was instead battling his way to the Roubaix Velodrome, over the race time limit and exhausted.
The young Brit was similarly empty when he arrived at the finish of Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, with his jersey white with salt from sweat and struggling to catch his breath., But this time he was sixth, some 130 places higher than he’d finished at Paris-Roubaix in 2023.
It was a confirmation of Tarling’s talents away from against the clock where he is already one of the best in the world and was his best non-ITT result on the road at WorldTour level.
“I think I got lucky with the timing,” Tarling said after he bridged across to the race-winning move with 58km to go. “I was lucky [teammates] big Ben [Turner] and Magnus [Sheffield] were in the group behind so they gave me the opportunity to go. I’m super happy.”
After showing off his time-trialling prowess to close the gap to eventual-winner Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the group of remaining favourites, the Ineos Grenadiers rider struggled on the climbs for the next 50km but showed bags of one-day potential.
The Welshman was yo-yo-ing back and forth off the back of the group, doggedly grinding away to not be completely dropped. He was clearly struggling to hold the pace which kept spiking in the final 30km as Tiesj Benoot and Jorgenson used their numerical advantage to secure the win for Visma-Lease a Bike, but his persistence finally paid dividends.
“I was just hanging on at the end. It hurt me quite a lot to get across so I think I tried my best,” Tarling said, eventually 44 seconds down on Jorgenson at the finish.
“Sixth was the highest we were going to get.”
The 20-year-old was coy coming into the start of his Belgian cobbled Classics debut for 2024, clearly aware that he was in great shape but not quite knowing what he would be capable of four hours later.
“We’ll have to find out,” Tarling admitted to Cyclingnews and other reporters at the start in Roeselare. “I did some [Classics] last year but this year I want it to go better.”
He credited his tough Paris-Roubaix debut as a baptism of fire into the world of cobbles but assured the pressure to become a Classics rider was more internal than coming from Ineos Grenadiers.
“Roubaix was good, it was definitely a hard experience. This year, I’m a lot more experienced and I think I’m in better shape for it to go better,” said Tarling before vindicating his own words after 188 kilometres of brutal racing.
“I expect a lot from myself, the same as last year, so all the pressure is put on by me.”
Time trials and Paris-Roubaix
But despite his obvious talents over the cobbles, Tarling wasn’t giving up his main ambitions as a specialist against the clock.
“Time trialling is easier mate,” he laughed, before admitting “Of course, it would be nice to do all the effort and get on the podium.”
Tarling has had a jam-packed calendar already in 2024, with a big block of racing in Australia, followed by strong performances at O Gran Camiño and Paris-Nice where he won a stage at the former and worked well as a domestique throughout.
He wasn’t certain at the start in Roeselare whether or not a Grand Tour appearance was on the cards for 2024 but did state the team had been discussing different plans and that he was hopeful.
Although the Paris Olympics time trial is his key goal for this year, what’s definite, however, is that this won’t be the last time we see Tarling's 6ft4 frame powering over the cobbles, be that in Belgium or across the border in France.
He’ll potentially be present at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders which could be too climbing-heavy for him. But at next week’s Paris-Roubaix, one year on from his battle over the time limit, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the now more confident and even stronger 20-year-old right up there on the pavés in northern France.
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