{"id":448371,"date":"2026-02-27T11:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448371\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:01:10","slug":"6-4w-kg-at-16-how-harry-hudson-went-from-pocket-money-climber-to-world-champion-and-lidl-trek-prodigy-in-just-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448371\/","title":{"rendered":"6.4W\/kg at 16: How Harry Hudson went from pocket-money climber to world champion and Lidl-Trek prodigy in just two years"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Harry Hudson walked into a bike-fit studio in spring 2025, he wasn\u2019t looking for direction \u2013 only data. As far as he was concerned, he didn\u2019t need anything else. The then 17-year-old, who was already competing at the sharp end of international junior racing, did not have a coach and was not looking for one. He was visiting physiologist and biomechanic Craig Stevenson at Elite Edge in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to garner some metrics on his form and efficiency. What happened next epitomised his approach to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry took the results away, analysed them himself, added his own research, and built his own training plans,\u201d says Tom Denwood, who oversaw Hudson\u2019s racing at his old team Harrogate Nova. \u201cAt that point, he was effectively coaching himself.\u201d In an era when almost every top junior is guided by an experienced performance coach, often an ex-pro, Hudson\u2019s self-directed approach is remarkable, not least for the fact that it propelled him to a solo victory in the junior road race at the UCI World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda<\/a>. No British junior male had ever won the title before. Lidl-Trek<\/a> had already spotted Hudson\u2019s potential, and snapped him up for their Future Racing development team. In doing so, they have bagged one of Britain\u2019s most promising talents.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Harry\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Andy Jones)<\/p>\n

Growing up in the quaint village of Bamford in the Peak District, in the heart of England, Hudson was surrounded by climbs. His dad Paul would take him and his brother Finley, two years his junior, on routes around the Peaks, decked out in their Matlock CC jerseys. Speaking to CW in 2023, aged just 16, Hudson told us: \u201cDad would give us incentives to reach the top of the climbs, like 10p or 20p.\u201d That interview took place because he had just become junior national hill-climb champion, finishing third overall \u2013 beating all but two senior riders. \u201cMy average power was 337 watts, which is 6.2W\/kg, and my normalised power was 345 watts, around 6.4W\/kg,\u201d he said of his effort up The Struggle. He was right to be proud of the performance: it was vivid evidence of his exceptional talent.<\/p>\n

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Hudson\u2019s racing career had begun a few years earlier: from age 12 he dabbled in circuit racing, and shortly afterwards took up cyclo-cross. But it was climbing that he became transfixed by, and soon hill-climbs were his speciality. \u201cIt was something I was good at, as I was always generally a bit smaller and lighter than the rest,\u201d the fair-haired, rosy-cheeked 18-year-old told me a week after his win in Rwanda (in an interview for Rouleur).<\/p>\n

When Denwood first spotted Hudson, he was immediately keen to sign him. \u201cWe were setting up Harrogate Nova in 2023 and were actively looking for top junior riders,\u201d Denwood recounts. \u201cWe went to the North West Youth Tour and Harry and Jamie Stewart, the current national junior champion, ripped things apart on the hilly stages. Harry went from the gun and was doing all the driving. His Matlock CC jersey was flapping about and you could just tell he was a class act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shrewd and determined<\/p>\n

It was Hudson\u2019s dad who introduced him to cycling, but it was Chris Froome<\/a> who inspired him to be a pro. Specifically, the then-Sky rider\u2019s fourth and final Tour in 2017, when Hudson was nine. The youngster soon grasped that emulating his hero would require a meticulous approach. No problem. \u201cHe takes such care of everything,\u201d Denwood says. \u201cHe orders parts off AliExpress, and with his dad Paul he builds his bikes up. He\u2019ll insist on one drop of chain wax per link and then he\u2019ll rotate the cranks back to make sure everything\u2019s working smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Harry\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Andy Jones)<\/p>\n

When Hudson\u2019s dad Paul bought a squat rack and leg press machine from Facebook Marketplace, Hudson spotted an opportunity to further develop. \u201cWhen Harry started doing strength and conditioning <\/a>exercises, he made massive gains,\u201d says Denwood. He is also fully across nutrition. \u201cHe knows how many grams of carbs he needs, and exactly what he should be eating. White rice cooked with jam is a particular favourite.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Others I speak to about Hudson tell me similar: he\u2019s very meticulous, very dialled-in; he leaves no stone unturned in his quest to achieve his dreams. According to Denwood, these are traits inherited from his parents. \u201cHe\u2019s a clever kid: his dad is a hospital consultant, and his mum Anne is a midwife, so he\u2019s learned to think about stuff and how to make things better. He enjoys being around others, and likes teasing and being teased, but he always makes sure he goes to bed at the right time. He\u2019s got his priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time and again, I hear stories of Hudson acting and riding with a professionalism beyond his years. Take the Super D\u00e9voluy one-day race last June, for example. \u201cIn the race the day before, he struggled in the 38\u00baC heat but the next morning you could see he had this ambition to win, to make up for the day before,\u201d Denwood remembers. \u201cWe all left the hotel and he was the only one who\u2019d brought his finishing bag with him. He\u2019d checked the weather and could see it was going to rain. He went on to win the race in torrential rain and after he crossed the line he had his finishing bag with his towel and rain jacket. He was the only one organised enough to plan ahead. So professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escape artist <\/p>\n

For the past two seasons Hudson has been racing for one of the best junior teams in the country \u2013 Harrogate Nova. He took nine wins in total, including a victory at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. \u201cAll I wanted to do was to sign a WorldTour development contract,\u201d he told me in September. \u201cI\u2019d have happily not got any race results as long as I\u2019d signed a contract.\u201d Fortunately for him, he won races and signed a contract.<\/p>\n

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Winning in Rwanda, the biggest stage he had ever competed on, wasn\u2019t a complete surprise to close observers of junior racing. He had just won a stage and finished second overall at the Vuelta a Cantabria in Spain, and was one of Europe\u2019s strongest juniors. But no one, least of Hudson himself, anticipated the manner of the win: a Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>-style escape act worthy of a new nickname \u2013 Harry Houdini.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a team, the plan was to be at the front at the start to make it easier to think about the race when moves would start going,\u201d he reflected. \u201cI was thinking the race wouldn\u2019t properly start until 60 or 40km to go, and when I made a move at 36km I was expecting a small group would come with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hudson kept looking back, almost willing other riders to bridge across to him, but he was too good, too strong. He was all alone. \u201cOn the next cobbled climb, no one appeared so I decided to settle in and I committed with a lap-and-a-half to go. I realised if I was going to do well out of this I had to go solo and hold on.\u201d One of the first to greet him at the finish was Mark Cavendish. \u201cThat was pretty cool, as I got to chat with him,\u201d Hudson said. The moment felt symbolic: the recently retired greatest sprinter of all time alongside a prodigious young climber, still glowing from his first major victory. It was hard not to see it as a passing of the baton.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Harry\n<\/p>\n

Taking gold at the 2025 Junior World Road Race Championships in Kigali, Rwanda <\/p>\n

(Image credit: SWpix.com)<\/p>\n

What Denwood saw watching the race back in the UK while \u201cgoing mad, cheering in the office\u201d, was what he\u2019d been privy to on so many occasions: a young lad who\u2019d learned from his past mistakes and executed the lessons. \u201cHe was taking on loads of water and food each lap, as he had remembered he had a heat issue in the summer. He was conscious of that and didn\u2019t want a repeat. That he attacked was no surprise. It\u2019s not in his character to wait and win a sprint on the climb. He likes to win and win in style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denwood is conscious of the risk of placing too much pressure on Hudson to fulfil his obvious potential, but \u2013 as someone who knows him better than most \u2013 can\u2019t hide his excitement about what lies ahead. \u201cHe\u2019s a pure climber,\u201d Denwood says. \u201cHe\u2019s got a massive kick on the climbs, a real explosiveness. He\u2019s never going to be a [Mathieu] van der Poel<\/a> or [Wout] van Aert<\/a>, as his strength is on those longer climbs. He can time trial, too. A GC contender? Absolutely he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEEPING IT REAL: \u2018NO BIG EGO, JUST A LOVELY KID\u2019<\/p>\n

Being world champion comes with adulation, praise and a weight of expectation, which for an 18-year-old isn\u2019t always easy to handle. But those close to Hudson are not concerned about it going to his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no need to take him down a peg,\u201d said Tom Denwood, Hudson\u2019s DS at Harrogate Nova. \u201cHe\u2019s confident in his own abilities and he\u2019s lucky that he\u2019s got such great parents in Paul and Anne who keep him grounded. He\u2019s such a nice guy with a lot of internal strength. He\u2019s not flashy or brash, just a lovely kid with a lovely character. Really grounded in reality and quietly confident with no big ego.\u201d<\/p>\n

To illustrate his point, Denwood told us that Hudson was intending to spend the February half-term in Calpe, Spain, training with Harrogate Nova \u2013 provided it didn\u2019t clash with his Lidl-Trek race programme. \u201cIt\u2019s planned that Harry will come along for the week with us \u2013 and that says everything about his attitude and intent,\u201d Denwood said. \u201cHe\u2019s been brought up in an environment where everyone is cycling-mad, and it\u2019s an environment he wants to be in all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

This feature was originally published in the 22 January 2026 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine \u2013 available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News<\/a> and Readly<\/a>. Subscriptions through Magazine’s Direct<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Harry Hudson walked into a bike-fit studio in spring 2025, he wasn\u2019t looking for direction \u2013 only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-448371","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\/448371","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=448371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}