I’m told before Finlay Pickering joins me at a table by a hotel pool in Altea, Spain, that he might be a challenging interviewee. And lo and behold, over the next 15 minutes as Pickering mostly speaks about his grand ambitions, the soon-to-be 22-year-old with short blonde hair and two small earrings in his left ear, holds my stare, never taking his eyes off me. It’s a characteristic of an assertive person, someone in charge, but contrary to what I had feared, I don’t find Pickering egotistical or full of self-importance. He’s incredibly grateful for his upbringing, to all the people who have and continue to help him – special mention is given to his local bike shop, Vive le Velo – but he’s also undeniably single-minded, confident and dogged. Especially the latter.
“I know my level and where I should or where I can get to – it’s just a question of time,” the Bahrain Victorious rider tells me. “When it comes, it will come. I don’t feel uncomfortable or stressed about it, because I’m in control of what I do. I’d like to think I can go quite far.”
To those unaware, Pickering, who hails from just outside of Hull in east Yorkshire, joined Bahrain at the start of the 2023 season after two years racing in the U23 ranks where he displayed his GC credentials by winning a stage and the GC at the mountainous Tour Alsace in 2022. His debut season with Bahrain didn’t go to script – just 32 race days, largely due to a nasty crash at April’s Tour of the Alps which sidelined him for a period – but Pickering exudes optimism when talking about his future.
“I wouldn’t say I was confident,” he says when I suggest he is. “I’d say I was more driven. I’ve got big aspirations and dreams and I want to fulfil those dreams. That’s why I’m here, why I am in an elite sports team.” What are those dreams? “I can’t give all my dreams away,” he replies. Does he have them scribbled down in a small notepad or on his phone? “I don’t need to write them down because I can’t really forget them.”
Britain is looking for its next GC star. Most talk about Oscar Onley or Max Poole, two riders from dsm-firmenich PostNL, but it could be Pickering. “I like to think I can climb, I can time trial, but I’m still only 21. I’ve still got room for improvement and room to grow,” he says. When he thinks about his best achievements so far, he smiles. “There’s no feeling quite like winning a bike race. It’s like a drug.”
There’s been an increased amount of talk in recent times of the pitfalls younger riders can fall into by focusing too much on their sporting career at the expense of studies, for example, but Pickering bats that away. “I put all my eggs in one basket. If you’ve got a get out of jail card, you’re not willing to put everything on the line,” he states. “If you don’t want to see how far you can go, then don’t be here, go away. It’s what I’ve wanted to do from a young age, and I want to see how far I can get. What’s the point in having an easy route or option [out]? I prefer to go all in, and if it doesn’t work out, tough, but I can sit on the sofa or in the office chair going, ‘I gave it everything’.”
Cycling has always been Pickering’s obsession. As a junior, he didn’t just race on the road, he also competed in cyclocross, mountain bike and on the track with British Cycling’s academy. “Riding a bike is something I just enjoy,” he says. “Anything to do with cycling, being outdoors, being in the sun or even in the race, is just nice.”
It was a sign of Bahrain’s belief in Pickering’s talents that they gave him a three-year contract as opposed to the traditional two years offered to most neo-pros. Stepping up and finding more consistency in 2025 is what is driving him this winter. “I think the first year at WorldTour is always one for experience,” he says. “Definitely coming from the amateur ranks it’s a lot different, but I’ve enjoyed that experience so far and I hope to capitalise on it.”
The exact nature of his aspirations are a guarded secret, but his conviction is transparent. Nothing will get in the way of Finlay Pickering accomplishing his dreams. “I want this year to be better than last year,” he says. “I want to be stronger in races, hopefully being able to pull on some of the climbs for the other boys going for GC results, and hopefully do a good job that management sees and it establishes me as more of a name in the sport. I’ve only had one year so it’s hard to establish leadership qualities as I’m still learning the ropes, seeing how everything fits together, but give it a few more years and we’ll see.”
