THE RAYNER CLASS OF 2022

Five rising talents reflect on a year that’s seen them climb cycling’s ranks

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Another cycling season is coming to a close, and yet again British riders supported by the Rayner Foundation are making the step up into the professional ranks.

We caught up with five of them to find out about their successful seasons and the lessons they will take from this year as they move into the sport’s upper echelons.

OLIVER KNIGHT, 21

2022 team: Aix-en-Provence and UAE Team Emirates

2023 team: TBC

2022 highlight: GC and stage win at Volta a Castelló

When Oliver Knight stepped onto the UAE-Team Emirates bus before the start of the Vuelta a Burgos, he couldn’t fathom what he was faced with. “Anything you can imagine, it was there,” he laughs. “Showers, coffee machines, and a hidden drawer full of Haribos.”

The 21-year-old was making his debut with the WorldTour team as a stagiaire, and when he returned to the hotel on day one, he was shocked to find “a room full of snacks, in case we were hungry between meals. You don’t realise how good the support is.

“I’ve been given a Colnago bike that is 1.5kg lighter than my other one, and there’s a massive difference between the kits. It’s mega – proper top-of the-range stuff, real aero.”

Unfortunately for Knight he crashed on stage five, fracturing his pelvis, but it’s still been a breakthrough year. He won two races and topped the GC at the Volta a Castelló while representing Aix-en-Provence, the French team he’s been with since 2020.