Joshua Tarling emerged as one of the promising stars at the recent World Championships in Glasgow. The 19-year-old Welsh cyclist secured a brilliant achievement by clinching the bronze medal in the elite men’s time trial category, a feat that brought immense satisfaction to his compatriot and INEOS Grenadiers teammate, Geraint Thomas.
“He’s super talented. He’s really amazing. He’s a big guy,” Thomas remarked in the latest episode of his Watts Occurring podcast, alongside Luke Rowe. “I asked him what average he was planning to hold during the race, more or less. He said he was aiming around 455. I was like, ‘Jesus!'”
Thomas himself finished 10th on the day, and witnessing Tarling’s success could be seen as a passing of the torch between Welsh stars.
“My 10-minute power is maybe 470 at most. So it’s not far off, and that was maybe for an hour. The difference between me and him, in terms of sheer power, is massive.”
“I actually don’t even know what my average was,” Thomas insists when prodded by Rowe to reveal his own numbers. “Yeah, it’s all part of the long game, it’s just a big bluff. Actually, I’m flying, I could have won that,” Thomas playfully concludes.