Team News: Tim Torrie (Vitus Pro Cycling)

The former HMT rider Tim Torrie is one of the riders in the Vitus Pro Cycling Team who has come straight out of the Junior ranks and into a UCI team alongside some experienced riders.

Team News: Tim Torrie (Vitus Pro Cycling)

The former HMT rider Tim Torrie is one of the riders in the Vitus Pro Cycling Team who has come straight out of the Junior ranks and into a UCI team alongside some experienced riders.

His highlights have all have taken place in the last two years he explained with his greatest victory on the 3rd stage of Acht Van Bladel where one of the country’s most well known former Juniors, Tom Pidcock, was third overall (Tim was 10th).

“On that third stage, I held off the chasing peloton, which contained some of the world’s best Juniors, for 30km in a 2-up break” Tim explained, before adding “winning the sprint, and only just beating the bunch by 12 seconds.”

Other career highlights he says are “finishing 5th in la Coupe de President de la ville de Gruidadz was the first moment when I realised that I could compete at the highest level. Sharing that result with my teammates as we were 3rd team on GC was also a good experience despite all the crashes which prevented us from finishing higher.”
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Tim’s start in cycle sport began when he was just seven. “My first bike was a poor fit, but I was determined to beat my dad on it!” he explains. “When that happened, we decided it was time for me to race. I took part in my first race when I was twelve, a grass track elimination race. I crashed. The race restarted, and I won. Then I did my first circuit race a few months later and all I remember was loving every second of it …and then crashing, again”.

“Then the next circuit race I did, true to form I won but almost lost because I put my arms in the air in the sprint about 50 metres from the line so confident that I would win… which I did but only by a tyre’s width! I started to take it seriously at 16 when I began being coached by trainSharp and I’ve never looked back.”

A few years later and Tim is one of the new signings by Cherie for the Vitus Pro Cycling Team, giving him the opportunity to test himself against the best in Britain. Tim says of his opportunity to ride for the team, “I was over the moon. To think that I was coming straight out of the junior ranks to go onto a team run by Cherie whose had such success in the past, I’m honoured to ride for her.

“My former DS Mark Barry emphasised how important it was for us at HMT to make links with team managers and try to get ourselves out there. I was a little disappointed with how my season went because I had some bad luck with illness in the early part of the year which set me back a little.”

“I would have been content to be riding for a well-supported British elite or amateur team given my results, so to be offered a place on Vitus Pro Cycling and to sign a contract was really something I hadn’t expected!”

Having ridden for Mark Barry’s HMT junior team, Tim is aware of the importance of team work in bike racing these days. “I loved every second of being part of the team at HMT. It was great to ride for others and share the success as a team. Achieving something together was far more enjoyable and fulfilling than merely being successful alone.”

“When you are riding and knowing that there are other guys depending upon you, just adds a little bit of extra determination that you can lose when you race for yourself. To go up to teammates and have that moment of reflection after races good or bad just creates such great memories. The little tales of sketchy moments in the race or horror stories of crashes are bits of information that never leave you.”

“Racing in a team is simply better; to know that you’ve got guys who you can rely on to work with and give you support, a bidon or gel if you need it, it’s just an extra bit of comfort in the chaos of a bike race!”

[pullquote]Talking to Tim about his strengths as a road rider, he explains “I’m a strong all-rounder. I can stick with climbers on the shorter hills and give some of the best sprinters a run for their money on a good day. I’m not a bad time trialist either.”[/pullquote]

Tim says his ultimate goal is to ride WorldTour. “That has to be the dream of every young road cyclist” he says. “More specifically for the season, it’s all about finding my position in the pecking order early on. I believe it’s possible that I could be fighting to get into breakaways in the elite national series and I am targeting the latter part of the season to try and be competitive in the Elite races”.

“My biggest goal is to break into the top ten of at least one of the British elite calendar races. I hope that I can help some of the older, more experienced guys in the team to numerous wins and I think the icing on the cake for everyone would be for the team to qualify for the Tour of Britain”.

Talking to Tim about his strengths as a road rider, he explains “I’m a strong all-rounder. I can stick with climbers on the shorter hills and give some of the best sprinters a run for their money on a good day. I’m not a bad time trialist either.”

“I’d like to develop into a GC rider, though I’m perhaps not a good enough climber at the moment. Many people have told me that I could develop into a strong one-day rider and given my penchant for long breakaways, this is not beyond the realm of possibility. Ultimately, the coming season will be where I discover where my true talents lie at the highest level and from there I will look to develop my weaknesses and play to my strengths.”
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Looking back at last season and what his toughest races were, Tim says “The hardest one-day race had to be the Guido Reybroucke classic. The race went hard from the gun and as a team, we got caught out too far back on the start line and it was straight into cross wind sections with the bunch splitting into three groups before we had even covered 10km.”

“We got back into the front group, but the pace never slowed, and it was just a war of attrition. I have no idea how I finished let alone finishing in 21st place. The hardest stage race was easily the Junior Tour of the Basque country. This was my first taste of racing over real mountains and I found my climbing ability was not equal to that of the climbers.”

“I spent long periods riding at the front sheltering my teammates and pulling back breakaways, but was also surprised to find myself once more in a 2-up break on a stage with two 3rd cat climbs and a 2nd cat climb. Though it didn’t work out, my teammate still finished 3rd . The 3rd stage of the race had to be the hardest day I ever had on a bike, climbing to the finish on sections of 15% or more after already tackling a 10km climb left me so exhausted that I crashed into a barrier at the top of the climb on the finishing straight!”

Looking ahead to this season with Vitus Pro Cycling, Tim says he’s had his best winter training ever. “I have produced some power PB’s within the dark months. TrainSharp have upped my training load but we are always careful because I don’t have the recovery time of full time riders because I am still completing my A-levels and full time at school”.

“I have been spending a lot of early mornings on the turbo and late evenings riding through the dark to make sure I’m in the best of shape for the season start. I have become accustomed to waking at 5:30 to be riding for 6 and I hope all the hard work comes to fruition later in the year”.

Finally, on his goals in 2018 with Vitus Pro Cycling, he says “I want to be an indispensable teammate first off. I know we have some big power houses who I want to help in leading to the line. On top of that I would sorely love to help the team qualify for the Tour of Britain”.

“As for individual goals, I want to become as competitive as I can be early on in my career. At least one top 10 in an elite national race is my main goal and if I can go better than that, then I will be over the moon. I know from last season, that in bike racing anything can happen. If I train hard and can be in the right place at the right time anything IS possible!”

Thank you to Tim for the chat and good luck with your team for 2018