{"id":345636,"date":"2026-01-01T01:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/345636\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T01:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:56:13","slug":"the-team-see-me-as-somebody-who-can-perform-in-high-level-races-british-rider-begins-pro-dream-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/345636\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The team see me as somebody who can perform in high-level races’ \u2013 British rider begins pro dream in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the final chime of New Year\u2019s Eve, Ben Granger will become a pro cyclist for the first time in his career, as he begins a two-year contract with Toscana Nippo Rali<\/a>, the Italian team formerly known as Solution Tech-Vini Fantini.<\/p>\n

The deal marks another step-up in the Brit’s now five-year journey of living and racing in Italy. In 2025, the 25-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough season, in which he won the UK\u2019s prestigious Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic<\/a>, riding for Continental team MG.K Vis. Granger was also previously part of Zappi, the academy that gave rise to WorldTour pros Tom Pidcock<\/a>, Ben Healy<\/a> and Paul Double<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn cycling, I\u2019ve always considered it quite black and white between that Continental level and the Pro Continental level, so to be on the other side of it is really exciting,\u201d Granger told Cycling Weekly.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe most common pathway now is from juniors to a development team, and then straight to the WorldTour. But I never did any of the junior racing, so that pathway was never really an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former cross country runner, Granger began cycling at 16 as a welcome distraction from his GCSE revision. He then progressed slowly through his local racing scene in Cumbria \u2013 \u201cit took me 18 months to win\u201d \u2013 and in 2020, started training during the Covid lockdowns with Soudal Quick-Step<\/a> rider James Knox<\/a>, who inspired him to pursue a career abroad. The following year, aged 21, Granger joined Zappi and rode his first UCI-level race \u2013 \u201cmost British pros are probably pro by that point already,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

British riders turning pro in 2026<\/p>\n

Men
Ben Granger \u2013 Toscana Nippo Rali
Noah Hobbs \u2013 EF Education-EasyPost
Oliver Peace \u2013 Picnic PostNL
Callum Thornley \u2013 Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
Lucas Towers \u2013 Modern Adventure Pro Cycling<\/p>\n

Women
Robyn Clay \u2013 Picnic PostNL
Lauren Dickson \u2013 FDJ United-SUEZ<\/p>\n

This past year has brought another leap forward. After winning his opening race in Firenze-Empoli, Granger went on to compete across Europe, winning four times and scoring a string of top 10s. His standout moment, he says, came at September\u2019s Coppa Sabatini, a pro-level event in which he placed third. \u201cThat one\u2019s still a bit surreal,\u201d he said. \u201cI still don\u2019t really believe that I actually managed to pull that off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Granger was part of the early breakaway that day in Tuscany. He hoped he might squeeze among the first 10 riders over the line \u2013 \u201cbest case scenario\u201d \u2013 but when his group was caught, his chances, he felt, were dashed. Then, inside 7km to go, the Brit latched onto a move led by WorldTour star Isaac del Toro<\/a> (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Olympic omnium champion Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), and hung on to the line for a podium place. He was the only non-pro rider in the top 10.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was the fourth time I\u2019ve done the race, and the first three times I DNF\u2019d,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt was one of those perfect days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result gave Granger confidence, but it also turned heads. Having spoken with Vini Fantini all season, interest in his signature \u201cspiked massively\u201d. He already knew one of the sports directors at the ProTeam, who he had worked with previously, and had \u201cput in a good word\u201d for him. \u201cI think it became a bit easier for him to get the rest of the management and the owner on board,\u201d Granger said.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Benjamin\n<\/p>\n

Granger (right) on the podium with WorldTour pros Benjamin Thomas and Isaac del Toro at 2025’s Coppa Sabatini<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Though he does not know his 2026 calendar yet, Granger understands it will contain a mix of both pro and non-pro races, with events in Europe and Asia. The team received WorldTour invites to Strade Bianche<\/a> and Milan-San Remo<\/a> this year. If those opportunities arise again, Grander said, he\u2019d be \u201cthe first to put my hand up for it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest strength is probably my engine, and that\u2019s something that will go really well with this team, because there are races where they want to send somebody in the breakaway, and that\u2019s where I get most of my results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The team] told me they see me as somebody who already can perform in the high-level races. But I feel they also like the fact I\u2019m maybe quite versatile; if they want to go to a sprint race and have somebody just do a job for the day, I can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the final chime of New Year\u2019s Eve, Ben Granger will become a pro cyclist for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-345636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}