Nineteen-year-old Josh Tarling ticked off a major career milestone on Thursday when he claimed his first WorldTour victory with a stage win at the Renewi Tour.
The teenager won the individual time trial on day two of the five-stage Belgian race, beating UAE Team Emirates’ Tim Wellens by 14 seconds.
As a result of his victory, Tarling now shares the record for the youngest rider ever to win a race on the UCI WorldTour. He equalled the benchmark set by Remco Evenepoel at the 2019 Clásica San Sebastián, where the Belgian won aged just 19 and 190 days.
“It’s crazy. I’m so happy,” Tarling said afterwards. “I thought I started fast and then I heard the splits and I started panicking. I just tried to get everything out that I could and I think it worked well with the wind and stuff. It ended up working really good.”
The Welshman averaged in excess of 54km/h over the technical 13.6km course in Sluis, holding off the likes of Yves Lampaert (Soudal Quick-Step), Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) and the former world champion Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma).
“I don’t know if I was calm,” Tarling smiled. “I think it was panic from about halfway, but it was only a short-ish time trial, so it was just about getting everything out.”
This year has been a breakthrough one for the teenager. Having won the junior time trial title at the 2022 World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, he went on to become the British national champion in the discipline this June.
He then scored an impressive bronze medal in the elite time trial event at the World Championships in Glasgow, finishing on the podium behind his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Filippo Ganna and the winner Evenepoel.
Speaking after the Worlds, Tarling credited the UK time trial scene for his talent against the clock.
“I always loved it, and my dad used to do it,” he said. “There aren’t many places where you can pull on a skinsuit on a Wednesday night and just hurt yourself.”
“I came to the UK a week and a half before the Nationals just to get at least three good 10 [-mile time trials] and a 50, just to get kind of dialled in. There’s some awesome courses out there.”
A first year pro, Tarling now leads the general classification at the Renewi Tour, formerly known as the BinckBank Tour and the Benelux Tour, with the 14-second advantage he took from the time trial.
