Sam Watson interview: Rising Yorkshire cycling star coming of age in World Tour peloton with Groupama-FDJ

Sam Watson, right, with the Pidcock family Tom and Giles at the finish of the Tour of Britain stage in Helmsley recently. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

Anyone who might question the legacy the Tour de France left on Yorkshire from its whirlwind visit eight years ago need look no further than the amount of young riders representing this great county in cycling’s biggest races.

Granted, the Tour de Yorkshire race fizzled out after five years of growth, while the UCI Road World Championships left lasting memories and, some would argue, lasting damage to The Stray in Harrogate.

But if it’s a lingering impression you’re after, then the young riders of Yorkshire have certainly been emboldened by what they saw on that not-to-be-forgotten weekend back in July 2014.

Tom Pidcock is the obvious name that springs to mind, the 23-year-old from Leeds who is at the vanguard of the young and versatile revolution in world cycling. He already has Olympic and world titles to his name across a multitude of disciplines, not to mention a hair-raising descent of an Alpine mountain and victory up Alpe d’Huez at the Tour de France.

Sam Watson at the finish of the Tour of Britain. Stage 4, Redcar to Helmsley. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

Connor Swift is a little older but a British road race champion and now bound for Ineos Grenadiers next year, where he will link up with another Doncastrian cyclist in Ben Turner.

And then there is Sam Watson, who turns 21 on Saturday, who is coming to the end of his first year riding at Under-23 level on the continent, a season littered with victories and impressive performances.

That he couldn’t cap it by winning the UCI Road World Championships Under-23s race in Woolongong, Australia, on Friday, should not detract from the fact that Watson is the latest prospect from Yorkshire, land of the rising cycling star.

Watching the Tour de France in 2014 helped inspire him – "I remember being stood in Harrogate, filming with my mum’s iPad and shouting ‘there’s Mark Cavendish’” – but his journey began long before that.

Sam Watson, left, ahead of the 2018 UCI World Cycling Championships junior men's race with British team-mate and fellow Yorkshireman Mason Hollyman at the start in Kufstein. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

Watson was a schoolmate of Joe Pidcock, Tom’s younger brother, and almost by osmosis developed his passion for the sport through Yorkshire cycling’s first family.

"I started riding my bike to school with Joe, and then they started taking me to races when I was eight. It’s not a bad family to get in with,” laughs Watson.

"All three of us has BMX bikes and I remember we all got banned one year from riding BMX bikes at school, weaving in and out of our schoolmates. Too dangerous apparently.”

Watson was a keen swimmer at that age, while football and running were also his outlets. But cycling gripped him.

Sam Watson, at the world championships junior men's race start in Kufstein in 2018. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

He rode his first competitive race with Joe Pidcock when he was eight, but when he returned the following year to try and ride with his friend again, he was told he was too old, and would have to contest the Under-10s race.

Progression thereafter was steady, until it clicked and he started winning races.

"Second year at Under-14s and first at Under-16s was when I really got up there because before that Lewis Askey and Alfie George just won everything,” he says of riders he still faces now.