Our latest episode is with former junior Paris-Roubaix winner Lewis Askey.
In our opinion, Lewis is one of the brightest under-23 prospects around. Just 19 years old, and now into his second year at under-23 level, Lewis rides for the Continental-level Groupama-FDJ development team, along with new signing Joe Pidcock, younger brother of Tom. The team is only in its third year, but has already proven to be a centre of excellence for developing young riders, having been home to Lewis’ fellow Brit Jake Stewart before he stepped up to the WorldTour parent team this season. It’s a path we think Lewis has the potential to follow.
He first came to our attention back in 2018 when he won the junior Paris-Roubaix as a first-year junior. The following year, he consolidated his position as one of the most exciting junior talents in the cycling world taking victory in the Junior Tour of Wales, the UK’s most prestigious junior stage race. The race is so often a marker for future success, with recent winners including Ben Tulett, Tom Pidcock, Fred Wright, Eddie Dunbar, and Hugh Carthy, to name but a few.
Last year, Lewis put together a really solid season, despite the interrupted race schedule, including an attacking display in Le Samyn early in the season, and 10th in the U23 Paris-Tours towards the end of the year. In between times, he rode two of the toughest U23 stage races around: the Baby Giro – where he put in a fine display of teamwork – and the Ronde de L’Isard. And yes, for those of you wondering where they are, we will finally be publishing Lewis’ diaries from that race soon!
Talking of diaries, Lewis will be keeping a diary of sorts on the podcast this year. We’ll be checking in with him throughout the season to see how his year progresses. So this episode is the first of a number that will feature Lewis this year.
This first catch-up with Lewis was recorded in the middle of February whilst he was on training camp with the team Italy. We take a look back at how things have gone for him over the last few months, his winter dabbling with cyclocross, what team camp has been like, his mad dash to get a Covid test before crossing the border, and look forward to his season goals.
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