WITH attention focused on the duel between Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel at this year’s Tour of Britain, which starts today in Liverpool, one other, less celebrated, sprinter is hoping to spring a surprise or two in the coming week. Cast your mind back to a rainy Sunday in early August and to the closing stages of the Prudential Classic through Surrey and into central London.
A group of five riders has broken away from the main peloton, including Ben Swift of Team Sky and the former world champion, Philippe Gilbert. As the two big guns eye each other in the final swoop down the Mall, a figure in a dark jersey emerges out of the gloom in an ambush so perfectly timed and executed that the race is all over in a few turns of the wheel.
That the winner was Adam Blythe, an unheralded British rider and the leader of a new and little-known domestic team run by a former soldier, only added to the sense of fairytale. Blythe’s career might have taken a few detours along the way but, with one dramatic swoop, the 24-year-old Yorkshireman had put himself firmly back into the cycling mainstream.
“That was the biggest win of my career so far, but it was the way I won it, from a group of five guys, with people like Swifty and Gilbert in there, that made it so special,” he says. “I didn’t want to regret anything and I was super-happy with my form so I just went for it. I trusted my sprint and when I get it right I’ve got a good gallop on me.”
Where, then, has Adam Blythe been during all the years of plenty in British cycling? The answer can be found in the words of Sean Yates, the sporting director of his team, NFTO. “That day showed just how good Adam can be. But he will be the first to admit that he hasn’t always been the most serious rider with regards to his career.”
Advertisement
Blythe does indeed acknowledge the criticism. “In my first few years as a pro I won a few races and then I sort of backed off,” he says. “I got a bit complacent. I thought I could win a bit more than I could. I wasn’t fulfilling my potential and then I lost a bit of confidence. I was on the back foot a lot of the time.”
At a time when British road racing was very much on the rise, Blythe opted out of the GB development system and followed the time-honoured route to the continent where he signed a neo-pro and then a full-time contract with Silence Lotto. Two years later he moved to another big continental team, BMC, led at the time by Gilbert. He was living in Monaco with his girlfriend, the British Olympic cyclist, Lizzie Armitstead, and earning a well-paid living as a domestique, considered very talented but not reliable enough to be selected for the big tours.
Wins at the Circuit Franco Belge and the semi-classic Binche-Tournai-Binche were meagre reflections of his raw ability. At the end of last season, BMC let him go. Faced with an uncertain future in Europe and stung by the rejection, Blythe returned to England to sign for NFTO, a relatively new British team.
Two steps down the professional ladder it might have been, back riding the roads of his youth, but Blythe has flourished in the environment of a team driven by the passion of owner and cycling addict John Wood, and by a sense of fun very much at odds with the intensity of the GB programme.
“The racing is serious, but we get on our bikes and have fun. I realise how much I’m enjoying it again. This Tour of Britain will be a good showcase for me and the team because we don’t often get to ride with the Pro Tour people.
Advertisement
“People say I’m still young. I’m only 24. But I feel the years are ticking by and there are always a host of young riders coming round the corner. So it does feel a little bit like the last chance. I need to make the most of it.”
Blythe will need to be smart, to use the lead-out trains of the teams working for Cavendish and Kittel to creep into contention and hope a few gaps come his way at the right time. “ I’m quite a canny rider, I can bluff a bit, use my head and if I can get up there, I’ll look forward to rubbing shoulders with them.”
The first stage today in Liverpool and the final stage in central London next Sunday, both circuit races, look ideal for Blythe, the national circuit racing champion. Another win on a big stage this week and he will no longer be the forgotten man of British cycling.