The day before Harry Hudson sits down to chat with Rouleur, he was at home in Sheffield, waiting by the door, wondering when there’d be a knock and someone appearing with a box of clothing. The morning passed and no one came. The hours ticked by in the afternoon and still no one arrived. “I was thinking that it wasn’t going to arrive,” he says, “but then at 6pm someone finally knocked.” Hudson opened the door, collected the parcel, and in a rush opened up the packaging. What was inside? “A rainbow jersey, my rainbow jersey. And a white skinsuit with the rainbow bands on them.” He bursts a big cheesy grin. And rightly so.
A week before, Hudson had become the first ever British rider to win the men’s Junior Road Race World Championships, attacking solo 36km from the line in Kigali, Rwanda, and winning by 16 seconds. He was greeted at the finish by Mark Cavendish – “that was pretty cool as I got to chat with him,” he says – and was singled out for praise by Geraint Thomas: “I always listen to Watts Occuring, especially when I’m building my bikes up, so it was cool to get a mention.” Slowly, gradually, reality is sinking in that the 18-year-old Yorkshireman is a world champion. “It’s beginning to feel more normal now,” Hudson says. “I only rode in my rainbow jersey for an hour today as I’ve been a bit ill since Rwanda but it was really special.” At the Philippe Gilbert Junior Road Race on Saturday and Sunday (October 4-5) he raced in the bands for the first time, finishing fourth overall. “It’s going to be so cool to line up in them,” he predicts a few days before.
Hudson’s win in Rwanda wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but he’s not dominated the junior category like Remco Evenepoel and Quinn Simmons once did. Victory at May’s junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège underlined his potential, though, and he was the subject of interest from a number of WorldTour development teams, eventually agreeing to sign for Lidl-Trek Future Racing for next season. He’s still a kid, just out of school, but the world title suggests he’s got a big future in the sport.
Mark Cavendish congratulates Hudson after his win in Kigali. Image: Simon Wilkinson/SWPix.com.
“I’ve always ridden my bike and watched the Tour de France with my dad, and I started with circuit racing aged 12,” he explains. “At U14 I began racing cyclocross, and that gradually evolved into riding hill climbs as well. It was something I was good at, as I was always generally a bit smaller and lighter than the rest.” Aged 15, he became the junior hill climb national champion, beating competition three years above him, and finishing third overall. It was an early sign of what was to come. “Hill climbing teaches you about pacing efforts, and being close to the Peak District, there are so many races to test yourself at.” It’s no shock that his idol is a climber. “Chris Froome,” he answers when asked who he looks up to. “Watching him winning the Tour when I was about 10 really inspired me.”
Having broken his arm in 2024 forcing him to miss a big chunk of the season, Hudson had one aim in 2025 while riding for Harrogate Nova Race: to be spotted by the big team scouts. “All I wanted to do was to sign a WorldTour development contract. I’d have happily not got any race results but have signed a contract,” he says. “When I was chatting with teams, it was a sign that I was going in the right direction.” What did teams want from him? “They wanted to see my power data, and then wanted me to show them proof that I can race a bike, especially as I had barely raced any UCI races. It worked out.”
Hudson looking behind himself at the Worlds and seeing no one able to follow him. Image: Zac Williams/SWPix.com
Damn right it did. Liège, as he alludes to, was only his second UCI race, but his victory was mired in controversy after a motorbike impeded the uphill sprint on La Redoute. “It was nice to win other races to prove I could back it up.” Four other victories followed, and then came Kigali. “As the team, the plan was to be at the front at the start to make it easier to think about the race when moves would start going. I was thinking the race wouldn’t properly start until 60 or 40km to go, and when I made a move at 36km, I was expecting a small group would come with me.” But that never happened – he was alone all the way. “On the next cobbled climb no one appeared, so I decided to settle in and I committed with a lap-and-a-half to go. I realised if I was going to do well out of this, I had to go solo and hold on.”
Immediately afterwards, Lidl-Trek proudly announced that Hudson had chosen to ride for them from next season. They’re delighted to have beaten the competition and recruited another junior world champion, and the young man himself is also understandably excited. “I’ve already been chatting with a few of their DSs at races, and I’ll be going on a training camp with them soon.” His calendar for 2026 will gradually take shape, but his career trajectory seems mapped out already. “The races I’ve done well in, with the exception of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour in July, have all had shorter climbs, and I’ve not done many climbs longer than 20 minutes-plus. But I seem to do well at anything that goes uphill, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get to the next step and to the WorldTour.”
