Ffosyffin junior cyclist Joshua Tarling is now a double European Junior Champion after winning gold in the Team Pursuit and Individual Omnium at the end of August.

The recent European Junior and Under 23 Track Championships, held in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, brought together 467 of Europe’s best junior cyclists for a week of competition at the indoor 250m velodrome.

Josh, a first year junior, was selected by Team GB to ride the team pursuit and the individual omnium.

First up was the team pursuit, a 4,000m event in which teams of four riders compete to either catch the team starting on the other side of the track or beat them to the finish.

This was a real focus for the GB team and in training they had been close to the world record. No British team of GB juniors has gone below the magic four-minute barrier before so the pressure was on.

The first round consisted of one team on the track at a time with the fastest eight qualifying for the second round.

The British team rode very strongly, working well as a unit where other teams lost riders and at the line became the first British junior riders to go under four minutes setting a time of 3.59.80. A new British record and 0.5 seconds off the world record.

Into the second round against a strong looking German team, the British lads kept their cool and managed to ride even faster.

At two thirds distance they were well up on the Germans but also ahead of the world record.

Frustratingly, the German team then split apart with one of their dropped riders impeding the front of the British team.

That momentary blip cost them the world record but they still went faster to set a time of 3.59.66 beating their previous time.

The final was then against a very strong French side who were masters at pacing their rides.

However, under pressure form the fast starting GB team, the French soon faltered losing a rider early on and as GB increased the pace they eventually caught the French and secured the gold medal.

Two days later Josh was back in action in the Individual Omnium, a four-race event that takes place in a single day.

First was a 40 lap race in which Josh attached early and managed to gain a lap on the bunch and took the win.

Next up was the ’Tempo’ race, a 40-lap race with one point for the leader across the line each lap.

Josh rode strongly to finish fourth before then taking third in the Elimination.

These results gave Josh a six-point lead going into the long 80-lap points race in which there is a sprint every 10 laps with five, three, two and one point being awarded.

Despite only being a first year Josh rode incredibly strongly and was never not in control running out the winner of the points race but also the winner of the European title.

Josh is now hoping to use the form from the track during the last few European races as the season draws to a close.