S4 Ep60: Brother UK Cycling Pocdast - Louis Sutton interview

Rising star Louis Sutton revealed his talent to a television audience of millions with a series of exciting performances at the recent Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men. The 22-year-old from St Albans played a pivotal role in the breakaways that shaped stages two and three, finding himself in wheel-to-wheel combat with Soudal Quick-Step’s superstars, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe.

While Sutton’s career has developed rapidly, he is no overnight sensation. Close observers of the sport will note his Rayner Foundation-funded pathway through AVC Aix-en-Provence: a route to the top followed by the Cofidis duo of Harrison Wood and Oliver Knight. Like his compatriots, Sutton has found the Provençal lifestyle and a blend of French and Spanish racing highly conducive to his development.

Now in his second year with the team, Sutton has continued to deliver results. After winning three times in Spain for AVC-Aix in his debut campaign, this year he added a GC victory at the Bidasoa Itzulia and a second stage win at the Volta a Castelló. He has proved himself a valuable team-mate too, playing a pivotal role for Clément Izquierdo, who next year will follow Wood and Knight to Cofidis.

Additionally, Sutton has impressed in Team GB colours, finishing second on his Nations Cup debut at the Course de la Paix and providing invaluable service to team-mate Joe Blackmore in the latter’s historic victory at the Tour de l’Avenir, cycling’s most prestigious U23 race. Great Britain team manager Matt Brammeier was sufficiently impressed to grant Sutton’s request for a reserve slot for the Tour of Britain. The rest is history.

In this warm and candid interview with co-host Timothy John, formerly the editor of RoadCyclingUK.com and Rouleur.cc, Sutton describes his rapid ascent through the sport. A weekend mountain biker with only a handful of junior road races to his credit, his acceptance of an offer to spend a year in Spain racing for the team now known as Brocar-Rali-Alé proved life-changing.

Sutton takes us inside Brammeier’s mix-and-match selection for the Tour of Britain, a squad of old hands, rising stars, mountain bikers and more, and reveals the additional willingness to ‘go deep’ that comes from racing against a double Olympic champion and a double world champion. From combativity awards to crashes and concussion, Sutton offers a detailed description of his first professional race: one very unlikely to be the last.

Now preparing for his final engagement of the season, an assignment with Great Britain’s U23 squad at the forthcoming world road race championships in Switzerland, Sutton can already reflect on a pivotal campaign. With his U23 career now nearly complete, his next goal is to join the professional ranks. Any of the heavyweight squads who competed against him at the Tour of Britain will surely require no further evidence of his abilities.