When retired WorldTour pro Matt Holmes announced his return to road racing at May's Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, it came as a surprise to many. He had no contract, no teammates, and was riding alone in the bunch, on equipment donated to him by brands. By the side of the road, his dad, Roy, was on bottle duty.
Holmes's name on the start list was an exciting prospect in itself. More surprising still, despite not having competed in 19 months, he went and won.
This year, the 30-year-old has plotted his own alternative calendar, dipping into the domestic scene, racing major gravel events, and most recently, captaining the Great Britain team at the Tour of Britain Men. Having fallen out of love with the sport as a WorldTour rider, he's now back enjoying his racing. Still, he told Cycling Weekly, it's not without its challenges.
"It's been a learning experience," Holmes said of his first nine months as a privateer. "It's not much fun going to races without a mechanic and stuff like that. But I don't have to race all that much. It's nice to have a bit of a foot in the real world, not just in this bubble of racing."
Between 2020 and 2022, the Brit spent three seasons with Lotto Soudal. He raced at the Giro d'Italia twice, wore the polka dot jersey at both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Paris-Nice, and won a stage of the Tour Down Under. Then, at the end of his final year with the Belgian squad, he decided to call it a day.
"I stopped because I didn't really enjoy it that much," Holmes said previously. "I got a normal job. I did that for like four days. I was working for a sports travel agency, I was going to be an ambassador. It was just a job to help pay my bills."
Now, Holmes relies on the support of sponsors – such as snack brand OGT and Factor Bikes – to prop up his racing calendar. "I've sort of got a different perspective for how hard it must be to start a team and to run a team successfully, because it's insane the amount of money [involved]. It's not a cheap hobby," he said.
"It's just [about] putting myself out there and speaking to people as much as possible, trying to find sponsors, trying to find support, and trying to promote sponsors as well, and being really proactive with that."
From his 13 race days this year, the 30-year-old has managed two wins: his season opener at the Lincoln GP and The Gralloch, a UCI Gravel World Series event. At last week's Tour of Britain, he led a breakaway on stage five with Ineos Grenadiers rider Connor Swift that came within a kilometre of holding off the bunch.
"We just rode 500 watts until they couldn't catch us anymore," Holmes said with a smile. These are power numbers that only the best pros can sustain. And yet, even without a rigid training plan, the Brit has no struggle holding pace.
"I don't do anything fancy, I just ride my bike a lot, to be honest," he explained. "I do efforts and stuff, but it's never planned, I just go on how I feel. It seems to work."
It's working so well, in fact, that squads have started to take notice. "I was very close to joining a team a few weeks ago, and then I don't know what happened," Holmes said. The team, he confirmed, is WorldTour-level, but he would not be drawn on saying who it is.
"I'm not chasing [a pro contract], I'm not desperate. If they come to me, then that's the right way around," he continued. "It's good just to be having those conversations for the gravel thing as well, so then I can say I've got options.
"We'll see if any WorldTour offers come up. I need to weigh up my options. I think it would be smart to really just focus on one direction and try and do the gravel and do that really, really well. Then I think I can get enough budget to do a big, proper calendar and have a good time."
