It’s unusual for us to interview someone so soon after our last chat, but when Peebles rider Callum Thornley took the lead in the Tour of Britain Mountains classification on Stage 1 of the race we knew another catchup was necessary.
We let Callum travel home to Girona and get settled in before we bothered him with more questions, about the race and his goals there, the tactics used and what it felt like instigating a break and being joined by the new Olympic Champion, Remco Evenepoel, as well as the likelihood of moving to a new team in the close-season.
Congratulations on your wonderful ride in the ToB Callum, have you had time to reflect on it all?
“I’ve not really had time to think back on it much, only briefly; I got back to Girona last night and my first thoughts were, ‘yeah, that was a good race!’
“I’m just happy with the way I raced, leaving nothing on the road.
“Part of me wishes I’d gone for the G.C. rather than doing the KoM jersey, but I don’t think at the start of the week I realised that my legs would be that good and I’d be able to actually compete with the best guys – hindsight is a great thing…
“So I think, no regrets to be honest, and it’s maybe better to get the KoM jersey so I could get some publicity every day from that, and then to get the Stage 3 result as well, to back it up.”
You’re on the back page of our local rag, “The Peebleshire”, fame at last! (and there was an entire inside back page dedicated to a stage report – unheard of!)
“Aye, I saw that!
“It’s good to see The Peeblesshire put a little article together.
“My mum was saying she went and bought it for my Granny because she does a lot of cutouts from newspaper items if I’m in them, or if any of the family are mentioned.
“I thought that was quite nice.”
You mentioned that the plan for Stage 1 was to get in the break and try to win the KoM points, but that’s easier said than done!
“It was our plan to get in the break and just be aggressive the whole race because in the past we’ve not really done that as a team in the Tour of Britain.
“Previously we’ve fully committed either to the sprints each day or the G.C. and I was dead keen to get in the break because it was on home roads.”
Was the team riding for you that day, or was the plan for you all to give it a kick?
“No, it wasn’t the team riding just for me that day, it was it was more that everyone in the team was trying to get in the break – bar Bob.
“Well, Bob was still trying to get in a move but it really depended on it’s makeup; if it was going be a break that’s not going go to the finish it would have been pretty pointless for him because he can get a good result in the sprint in any case.
“Yeah, so it was everyone trying to get away, and then I just managed to force a move, and it went clear.”
You obviously had good legs on the last stage, riding off the front and then joined by the Olympic Champion, Remco Evenepoel, that must have given you goose pimples?
“It was quite funny on the last day!
“It was windy, but the wind the wind was kind of negative… it was more head-cross than cross and cross-tail, and the headwind was neutralising things quite a bit, but it did still split up a fair bit, just nowhere near as much as I would have liked.
“But my legs were good and I was surprised with how well I recovered from the previous five days, then when Connor Swift was off the front late on, and Israel were all over the race to be fair to them, I thought it was going be hard for a move to stick unless it was a really strong composition so I just jumped and then Remco and Jonas Abrahamson came across and we formed a group of four with Connor.
“It was a strong group and in another in another world – if Israel weren’t such a strong team – then we would have gone to the line, but Israel were all over it, they were all pretty impressive and just shut it down within three or four K.”
What was the plan on the last day? (your DS Peter Kennaugh said he had to offer some stern words over the radios) Was it to stay prominent, get in the moves, or work for Bob in a sprint finish? Or all of the above?
“On the final day the plan was just to get stuck in and leave it all on the road (because it was the last race of the season for most of us) and to have no regrets.
“I wouldn’t say Pete was having a go at anyone, it was nothing personal, it was just good communication – he was ‘encouraging us in our ears’ because we were all really keen to get in the break!
“Bob and I were thinking the same thing, we live together and have a really good relationship, but I think maybe the other guys weren’t exactly on the same page; everyone was making an effort to get in the break but just doing it at slightly wrong moments and it was just not working, we were getting in all the wrong moves… it is quite hard to sense the correct moment.”
Did you do any “networking” at the race, speak to any of the top riders or teams to let them know you’re “available”?
“Not really.
“I knew and spoke to quite a lot of people in the bunch, they’re friends I know through the sport, being based in Girona and elsewhere, and obviously there was a lot of British people in that race.
“So I was just chatting to everyone generally, not really trying to set anything up for next year or to let them know I’m available.”
Pete mentioned that this was the last race of the season for the team – how come?
“Yeah, this is the last race season for the team because it’s just so, so expensive to go to races as a team, for Trinity and for all teams.
“I think people don’t realise how much of a budget it all takes. I mean, these World Tour and World Tour Development teams have good funding from all their sponsors and they can afford to just go and do a one day.
“There’s plenty of more races we could go and do but it costs so much. We went over to Belgium to do two races, the Druivenkoers Overijse and the Ronde van de Achterhoek [Callum was 9th in this race, ed.] a few weeks ago before Tour of Britain and that cost close to five figures for three days away; flights, hotels, food, etc. For a team with a smaller budget like Trinity it’s just not possible to do that every weekend.”
You’ll be in with a shout for a place in the U23 GB World Championship team though surely?
“Funnily enough I just found out a few hours ago that I’m going for the U23 Road Race, I’m very happy about that, to be honest.
“It’s really nice to have a bit of focus for the for the last three weeks of the year and it’s made me even more motivated than I was before just to remain on job and focused.”
You travelled back to Girona straight after the race, in the company of fellow Scot David Millar – he’d be a good bloke to help you out, knows A LOT of people in the sport (and he thinks highly of you).
“Yes, I did travel back with David but I didn’t get the chance to speak to him much, just a bit of a chat in the car but he said we’re going to meet to meet over the next week or so and catch up over a coffee.
“I’d love to pick his brains, ask him for a bit of advice.”
How will you spend the remainder of the season, can you ride races in Spain without team support?
“So for the remainder of the season it’s going to be just preparing for Worlds.
“This week’s all about recovery really, absorbing all that workload from the last week because it was a pretty high workload week! In a sense most of the work is done.
“It’s going to be a week of pretty easy training and then building back up to a week of a little bit harder, a few motor pacing sessions and then taper back.
“Then on the 27th, the World Road Race Championships, and after that I think the season will be done.”
Will you be coming back to Scotland (you could ride the Tour de Trossachs MTT in October maybe?!)
“You know what? I would actually love to come home and do some TTs or road races, and just train in Scotland for a bit – but it just makes sense and it’s easier for me to remain focused and stay disciplined out here in Girona. And the weather’s a bit nicer as well, makes it all a bit easier.
“I’ll be coming home after the Worlds so I’ll spend the first two weeks of October in Scotland, which will be really nice; I think moving away to Spain has made me realise how much I actually do love my home country, it’s just a beautiful place – and I think I actually enjoy the rough weather!
Is it true that the Trinity tea