FFOSYFFIN’s Josh Tarling is the new British national time trial champion, the youngest man ever to win the title.

The Ineos Grenadiers cyclist rode a blisteringly-quick time trial to be crowned the elite men’s national champion in his first year in the elite ranks.

The 19-year-old clocked a time of 48:50.43 on the 41.1km course, starting and finishing in the pit lane at Croft Circuit in Darlington on 21 June.

He finished 63 seconds ahead of Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious), whilst the 2018 national road champion and Tarling’s teammate, Connor Swift, managed to claim third place in 50:00.56.

The former Ysgol Gynradd and Uwchradd Aberaeron said: “It’s a bit weird to have won! Weird, but super happy.

“Super cool to have won against some big hitters and really nice that I get to wear this in some cool races now.

“I think it was important not to go too hard at the start. I didn’t want to go too easy when I felt good.”

The course for the time trial national championship was held on a 13.7km circuit in North Yorkshire on flat roads adjacent to the Croft Motor Racing Circuit.

A total of 25 starters took the line in the pit lane of the Croft Circuit then rolled across the roads of Dalton-on-Tees for three laps and a total of 41.1km, with less than 50 metres of climbing per lap.

Tarling always wanted to do the elite time trial rather than the U23 race despite being only 19 and knew he would be in with a chance of a medal if everything went well.

He came back from his base in Andorra a couple of weeks before the event and rode four local time trials and managed to set four course records.

A four-day race in the Pyrenees the week before the nationals sharpened his form and he managed to smash it on the day.

He added: “I’m super happy. We had a plan, it was definitely an aggressive plan and we gave it a go.

“I wanted to have a plan that would give me the win if I could execute it well.

“The course and the windy conditions suited me well so it all came together.”

He added: “We’ve had a WhatsApp group between my coaches and me called Project White shorts, if I won I’d get white shorts to match the white champions jersey!”

Josh is really enjoying his first year with Ineos and has been selected for some big races including the Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Norway.

The first year was all about learning and understanding how the races work but it was clear pretty quickly that he was adapting well.

The team keep giving him jobs to do and each time he’s done his job, learned and stepped up.

After riding some of the biggest races on the road he’s currently on a track racing block and may do the U23 European Championships in Portugal (joining younger brother Finlay who has been selected to ride the Junior European Track champs at the same time).

Then he has some big European stage races including the Tour of Wallonie, the ZLM Tour in Holland, the Benelux Tour and the Tour of Britain.