Josh Tarling is only 20 years old, yet his palmarès reflect more than a rider only in his second year of WorldTour racing. He's the European and British time trial champion and came third in the discipline at the World Championships last year in Glasgow behind TT specialists Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna. The young Brit also placed sixth in this year's edition of the Tour of Flanders, demonstrating his prowess in the punchy Classic races, too.
Tarling is making his Olympic debut in Paris this weekend, taking on the individual time trial on the city's streets on Saturday. He's up against some of the world's best, including Evenepoel and Ganna, but he's going into the race with a favourite tag on his back – the first chance at a gold medal for Team Great Britain.
While Tarling was preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Rouleur caught up with him to learn more about this time-trial sensation.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A professional cyclist, pretty much. I was young when I decided I wanted to be a pro. Six, maybe. My dad used to race, and I haven’t stopped racing or training since then. Recently I’ve been thinking that if I hadn’t become a professional cyclist, I’d be a professional MotoGP rider.
What’s your earliest memory of riding a bike?
Probably that experience of my dad. He used to race round Shrewsbury racecourse, and I used to ride round the car park because I was too young to race, riding no handed and stuff like that, on my mountain bike.
What is your least favourite thing about cycling?
The weather. I raced in the Tour Down Under and since then, it’s felt like I’ve been racing in freezing cold. I live in Andorra at the minute, and it gets snowy up there; I raced Gran Camiño, where it was raining every day. It was the same at Paris-Nice.
Read more: Josh Tarling on Olympic dreams, podiums with Wout van Aert and coping with pressure
Do you have any annoying habits?
I’ve just been given a VR headset for my birthday, I race cars on the Playstation in it and basically when I’m not on the bike I put the headset on and it means nobody can get hold of me.
What’s your proudest career moment so far?
All of the wins, I guess. But also, things like moving to Andorra and settling in. Moving out is what everybody wants to do and it was hard. That’s the thing off the bike I’m proud of, but on it, joining the team. I’m prouder of that than even the wins, because the wins you work for, but you can’t train to be signed by a big team.
Who’s your funniest teammate?
Everybody in the team has got quite a lot of good craic. The funniest guys are the ones who feed off what we’re all saying. Rowey [Luke Rowe] is always funny and I get along well with Swifty, Hayter, Big Ben [Turner]. De Plus is funny and he’s starting to talk like me now.
What’s your go-to pre-training meal?
I’m a bit boring in the morning. I’m a cereal kind of guy. Don’t tell the team, but I love Krave, the chocolate cereal. But also I just got a Nutri-bullet, and I learned how to make pancakes the other day. They’re messier to cook than I thought.
Josh Tarling during the British ITT National Championships
Would you rather spend time on the mountains or the beach?
It depends on the situation. Like, now, I’ve been riding in the mountains all day every day in the rain, and it’s the beach. But I quite like it when I’m at home and it’s snowing, and the house is warm and you’re in the mountains and you put a hoodie on. It’s quite cosy. So, I like to live in the mountains, holiday on the beach.
What’s your favourite place to train?
Andorra. It’s perfect. You have the mountains and nice long TT roads at the bottom.
You’re 20, Josh, but if you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Always try and look cool. You have to perform, but you can do it and look cool.
Do you prefer racing or training?
It’s hard to say and you get different vibes off each. I really like training in Andorra, especially when it’s warm. But my head would explode if I wasn’t racing, so it’s both, really. I like efforts, I always like to feel like I’m doing something, I’m always pushing on. I like the effort days for that. But I also like the days where you are just on the pedals all day and go to a café. I usually ride with somebody, but I do efforts alone. In Andorra for time-trial training, we’ll ride down together, do our efforts alone, then ride home together. If I’m not motivated, I drag myself over to Wurfy [Cam Wurf] because he’s a good motivator. He’ll drag me around for four or five hours.
What app do you use the most?
I like games. At the minute I’m playing a game called Tiny Wings where you make a bird fly as far as it can. Or Thumb Drift is another one I’m on a lot. And I watch a lot of MotoGP and F1.
Do you have a hidden talent?
I can throw quite far. That, or online PS racing.
Do you have a karaoke song?
Not a particular song, but you just have to commit to whatever you choose, don’t you, really? Especially in front of people. It’s worse if you try to get out of it. Just commit
