A former professional racer with several British teams, Yanto Barker is the founder of the popular kit brand Le Col.
What got you into cycling and made you want to consider it as a potential career option?
I think this is quite a complex answer for me, I was brought up in a very poor family, I don’t have a relationship with my dad and these two factors have influenced my adult career choices a lot in a very deep way. One, I first road for a local shop who sponsored me and a friend from school at the age of 14 to do some local MTB races, They only gave me a pair of shorts and a jersey but it was the first time I had received anything for my own value and contribution and I was like, this is cool, because I could not have afforded that kit without the bike shop 'sponsoring' me.
The second factor relating to my dad was something that created a burning desire and ambition in me to work as hard as I needed to, to create some success and build a bit of financial security.
As a young boy without a dad around I had to look after myself from a younger age than is usual and this made two things happen, A, I felt insecure that I could not manage looking after myself from so young, and B, I was forced to look after myself and so began strengthening muscles from early on to cope with this pressure and exposure to the big bad world.
These two factors combined to make me quite ambitious and willing to work hard to build the security I never had as a child for myself as an adult. This has been a theme through my adult life and cycling was the perfect job for me and my characteristics.
Did you have a particular cycling hero growing up? If so, who was it?
I had a few heroes in cycling when I was a kid, one was Miguel Indurain, I thought he was great because he was winning the tour as I was getting into cycling. But also Michele Bartoli who was riding for MG Technogym back in the 90’s and I had the pleasure of racing with him in the Tour of Britain in 2005, I was pondering whether to ride up next to him and say thanks for being my inspiration and it was thanks to him I had got into cycling, in the end I chickened out and didn’t say anything.
The other rider that was my inspiration was Jeremy Hunt, who was riding for Banesto again in the 90s then later for Cervelo and Sky. He lived near where I grew up in Devon and I would go out training with him on Dartmoor when he was back from races, I just remember he was so tough, that inspired me, and I saw first-hand how mentally strong he was and I think this rubbed off on me as I was privileged to spend time with him and see how he approached his job. He was absolutely hardcore.
What was the first race you ever rode? What are your memories of that?
It was an MTB race locally to me in Devon, I remember I set off before the start to do a sighting lap and misjudged the time I needed and ended up having to do an almost max pace lap to get back to the start on time, so by the time I started I was knackered, I still did pretty well and didn’t make that mistake again.
What was your first bike? Can you tell us about it?
My first road bike was a black and gold Raleigh that I bought from a friend's dad at school. I remember first getting on it and going for a ride and I was like, this is so much faster than the MTB bikes I had ridden up until that time and it was this bike that got me hooked on road racing.
I broke it when I crashed it into my stepfather’s car close to my home. I didn’t realise I had snapped the frame until after a particularly long training ride over Dartmoor up and down some steep roads where there was a squeak that I could not work out where it was coming from, after the ride I looked under the head tube and found a massive crack! I was lucky not to break my neck on that ride if it had broken while I was bunny hoping a cattle grid going down some descent on Dartmoor.
What’s your favourite place to ride your bike in the UK?
Probably Dartmoor, so many good memories, so many amazing rides and roads I have done over the years. It’s as good as it gets in the UK. I know every road like the back of my hand.
What’s your favourite memory from your time as a professional?
I once had a dream that I won the night before one of my biggest races of the season, it was 2003 Circuit des Mines in central France. I woke up and told my team mate I dreamt I won today, he said "no way, so did I!" but I also dreamt it was in the rain, I jumped up and looked out of the window, it was raining. I was like, wow, could this be real, it would be a great race to win.
I remember the start of the race was really hectic down twisty roads in the wet with 180 crazy bike riders fighting for position. Crosswinds and spray made it super edgy. I remember feeling quite stressed as you can imagine, just trying not to fall off was a big focus, anyway I was thinking about my dream during the race and thinking can I believe it, should I go here or there, how do I know when will be the right time? After about 80km of this madness I remember we came out of this town and up this long false flat drag with a crosswind from the right side, we were all in the left gutter with everyone suffering in their own little pain zone at the edge of the road.
Just before the top I looked over my shoulder and there was no one there. We were a group of about 15-16 riders and we pressed on and established a good gap and I was thinking shit I could really pull this off, I was Ok in small group sprints.
We rode like that until the last climb with about 8km to go and one of my teammates asked if it was ok to attack, I said yes, I felt good and he was more of a climber, anyway, I held his wheel along with three or four others so we were now a group of six or so and came down the last descent into the finish town and I then won the sprint. It was an amazing experience to have dreamt so vividly the night before and actually pull it off. This actually happened four or five times that season, when I knew I was going to win before the start and I did.
What gave you the idea to start your own clothing brand? Tell us about Le Col in the early days
This is also a big question, I was feeling demoralised with my racing career in 2005 and trying to decide if I should race again in 2006, in the end I was selected to ride the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March and I decided I would do that race and then retire for good. Once I had done that I found myself with no job, no purpose, no plan , no qualifications, no idea what to do. I started looking at what I had learned in cycling that I could apply to other jobs, I did get a few jobs in the next two years, but I quickly realised I did not like working for other people and was thinking maybe I should start my own business.
When I started going through all the different business ideas they were naturally related to cycling, kit, bikes, wheels, training etc, I settled on kit as I thought I could do this best with all my experience of cycling. From then on I spent nearly 2 years researching all the things you need to start a business, I really had no idea. In the beginning I did every single job, as a lot of founders of start ups do, later I was able to hire people to do the jobs, who did them much better than I did. I have never looked back. The more I have been in business and met other founders, we are quite a unique bunch with a very clear set of unique skills.
If you hadn’t ended up working in cycling what do you think you would have done?
This is a tricky question, I identify as a sportsperson through and through, I am very competitive, very driven and motivated to succeed, sport gave me the perfect platform to include all my skills, from physical strength, mental toughness, resilience and tactical strategy in the perfect way, it is hard to imagine doing anything else. I think I probably would have been an entrepreneur sooner. I came to business as a founder quite late in my 30s after 15 years of racing my bike, there is no physical element to business but it has everything else that makes it, high pressure, intense, quite stressful at times, tactical, high risk, high reward, a combination of experiences I like.
