Earlier that day, while the sun was still up, he competed in sodden conditions at the Paris-Roubaix Juniors race. There he toiled in the mud to help his team-mate Max Poole finish sixth, before coming home outside the time-cut himself. Worn out, mud still under his fingernails, his season now finished, he endured the long transfer to his bed for the night.
Although young Finlay Pickering’s 2021 was ending in something of a damp squib he had celebrated good results in recent times, including a top 10 in the Junior TT World Championships.
The following day he will be met at the hotel by Groupama-FDJ coach Joseph Berlin-Sémon, who will take him to the Service Course, where he will be welcomed by the team. But first, sleep.
That October Monday was the Yorkshire lad’s first meeting with the French team since signing as a professional rider in the development team for 2022. He is not the first Brit, or even the first Yorkshireman, to join the outfit led by one of the stalwarts of French professional cycling, Marc Madiot. Since January, the 18-year-old from Hull has been team-mates with fellow northerners, Joe Pidcock and Sam Watson along with riders from Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Estonia and of course France.
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