The revelation of last Track World Championships in the center of scouts' attention: "Five or six different WorldTour teams asked for my data"
Cycling
Josh Charlton became quite a surprising world record holder in the individual pursuit when he clocked 3:59.304 in the qualifying round of the 2024 Track World Championships in Copenhagen. His reign was brief as Jonathan Milan broke his record at the same venue just hours later in the final, but it was enough to draw interest from big road teams.
"I didn’t realise the potential I had until October," he told Cycling Weekly. The Brit became only the third rider ever at the time to go below four minutes in the discipline. "I didn’t realise how good I was at it until that day."
To put into perspective, that's two seconds faster than Filippo Ganna's gold medal time at the 2023 Worlds. Asked if road teams took notice of his performance, Charlton said: "I had a few nearly opportunities come about after the world record in Copenhagen, but nothing really came of it."
"My agent had five or six different WorldTour teams asking for data, asking for TrainingPeaks, stuff like that. It’s a difficult time to do such a good ride like that in October, when rosters have been decided, budgets have been used up. If I’d done it in September, maybe it would have been a different story."
"It just shows there is potential, there’s definitely interest. I’ve got to keep pushing, keep driving, doing fast times, winning stuff, and eventually they’ll hopefully take notice," Charlton expresses.
Like many other British riders, Charlton found it unpleasant for his then team Trinity Racing to have folded at the end of last season. "I’m lucky that I’ve got the track, and I’ve got the funding from British Cycling, so I can still keep doing it," he said. "I know there’s a lot of guys, even guys who I rode with, who had to end their careers because the team folded."
"The guys I’m competing against, guys like Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan – Milan has won everything at the UAE Tour this week, and Ganna’s Ganna – if you’re going as fast as those guys, surely you’re going to be of some use to the big teams," Charlton said.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments