Jack Rootkin-Gray decided he wanted to become a professional cyclist when he was seven. The determined young Brit makes his World Tour debut with us this year. Jack brings talent, grit, and pure racing instinct to our team.

Jack had to stick to his line to make it to the pros. He won three races last season, and finished fourth at the U23 world championships, but a couple of years ago, he was ready to give up the sport and take up a spot at the London School of Economics.

Jack grew up in the British track program. It was a great school for him, as an up-and-coming athlete, but Jack has never been one for riding in circles in air-conditioned arenas. He loves racing on the open road and has done so ever since he was six and saw a local club out training round a park near his boyhood home in Worcestershire, England. As soon as he saw those racers, all kitted out on their sparkling bikes, he knew he wanted to do the same thing. His dad, a daily cycle commuter, bought Jack his first racing bike. The summer he was seven, Jack decided his future road. He played football, rugby, tennis, hockey, swimming, and track-and-field right through school, but never gave up his childhood dream of racing with the pros.

A trip to Belgium to race kermesses with some friends when he was 15 got him even more excited about cycling. Riding around tidy parks in England was one thing. Rattling over cobbles at 200 heart beats per minute, chopping corners through corn and wheat fields, and outwitting his wiliest rivals from winning breaks—that was bike racing! And Jack was good at it. He was pretty good at riding around in circles on wooden boards too, but the track didn’t get his heart racing like road racing did.

Jack earned his WorldTour chance with his exploits on the road. He returned to racing with new fire. He trained smart and raced hard every chance he got and racked up an impressive tally of results, both at home and around Europe. His ride in Glasgow, on that formidable world championship circuit, proved that he was one of the best U23 riders in the world. Going forward, Jack still doesn’t know what kind of pro he is going to be.

This year, he is going to chuck himself into WorldTour racing and try to do his best every time he rolls over a start line. He’ll keep trying to get better. He’s going to make sure he enjoys the process too. Long term, he wants to be competitive in the classics, and throw down with the best riders in the world when the hardest, most tactical races of the season are being decided.