“TNT price hike is two fingers to cycling fans”: Ex-WorldTour pros Harry Tanfield and Sophie Wright on going gravel, the future of British bike racing, and why Manchester’s cycle lanes are rubbish

“Don’t get me started on TNT,” sighs Harry Tanfield.

The affable, straight-talking Yorkshireman has a lot on his mind as he joins the road.cc Podcast and his Ribble Outliers colleague Sophie Wright, still in his cycling kit, fresh from a training ride, and midway through packing for a trip across the pond to race on some Californian gravel at the Sea Otter Classic.

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Clattering some bottles about in his kitchen as he launches into his latest talking point, America-bound Tanfield, a former WorldTour pro with Katusha, AG2R La Mondiale, and Qhubeka NextHash, has left the road – and the old world of skinny tyres and high pressures – behind this year, venturing into the brave new world of gravel with the Ribble Outliers, the UK’s newest professional cycling team.

The Ribble Outliers, and their bright pink kits, were formed at the start of this year and feature a diverse cast of off-road specialists and roadie newbies, who will compete at the biggest gravel events in the world, including the UCI Gravel Series and marquee events such as the Gralloch, Sea Otter Classic, Traka, and the upcoming Unbound.

The six-rider squad includes four-time national marathon mountain bike champion Ben Thomas, double British time trial champion and former WorldTour pro Hayley Simonds, promising roadie and cyclocrosser Jenson Young, and gravel specialist Matheven Bond.

Alongside them are Tanfield and former mountain biker-turned-UAE Team ADQ and Fenix-Deceuninck pro Wright, who at the start of 2025 had precisely one gravel race under their belt between them.

“Racing gravel now, I’m looking forward to having more freedom than when I was racing on the road,” 26-year-old Wright, who spent the last six seasons racing, largely as a domestique, at the highest level on the road, after a hugely successful stint as a junior on the mountain bike.

“That was just my job on the road, to be a domestique, work for someone else – no problem, I did that for six years. It was great, met some really great people, did some of the best races in the world.

“But now I’m very excited to get back to my off-road route and race with my heart, have some freedom, and see how it goes.”

And while Tanfield is also relishing the prospect of taking on a new challenge – and riding lower pressures on his local, battered roads – it’s clear his mind hasn’t wandered too far from his recent roadie past.

Which isn’t surprising, considering he spent a substantial portion of his winter trying desperately to set up his own UK-based road squad, following the demise of his Saint Piran team, the last remaining UCI Continental team based in Britain, where the domestic racing scene has been decimated in recent years.

“We had permission from British Cycling that they would consider our application for the UCI licence with an extended deadline after Saint Piran got rejected, which was quite a last-minute decision by BC, it was kind of out of the blue,” the former Tour de Yorkshire stage winner explains.

“We basically had a small window, basically two weeks, to try to raise some sponsorship to form a new, completely separate team. I think completely separate new team from that point. So myself, one of the rider’s dads, and a few friends got together to give it a go.

“It was worth a try, because at the end of the day if we didn’t try, there’s no team. And if we try and fail, there’s also no team.”

Reflecting on his ill-fated bid to secure sponsorship in time, which he said was a result of marketing budgets already being sewn up by that point in the year, as well as the levels of bureaucracy involved in big companies, Tanfield admitted “it was a very stressful time”.

“These things take a lot of time, and time was something we just didn’t have, so it was a bit of a nonstarter,” he says.

“It cost me a lot of energy and I was just so burnt out from trying to do the whole thing. And I realised maybe this wasn’t for me. But it was also a learning experience, I met a lot of great people, and the support was great.”

As someone deeply embedded within British road racing, why does Tanfield think British cycling is currently struggling so much?

“Maybe it’s because companies are more interested in sponsoring individuals, influencers now, rather than teams,” he suggests.

“But the level of racing in the UK is still super high. Though it does make it harder if you want to get abroad – it’s not recognised in Europe. And it’s a shame we’ve lost all these races.”

“The Tour de France could be a kick-starter”

However, Tanfield isn’t one to dwell on the negatives – and he believes the Tour de France’s impending visit in 2027 could act as a kick-starter, not just for the local racing scene, but for cycling and active travel in the UK in general.

“With the Tour de France coming, maybe there could be a resumption of the Tour de Yorkshire,” he continues, inadvertently staking his claim to be a future British Cycling president.

“These flagship events inspire people, and it then trickles down from there. You can put as many National A races on as you like, but it’s these big races that make the headlines and get people engaged with the sport and start cycling.

“Participation rates aren’t as great as they have been, and lots of races are struggling. But British Cycling could use the Tour de France as a regeneration project, to give it a boost.

“Everyone is trying to promote active travel and active lifestyles, so if councils get huge events, which have big economic benefits through tourism, and it engages people in the sport – which is ultimately what councils want in their area – they should want that.

“Hopefully the councils are behind that, and aren’t trying to hinder it, they’re trying to support it, because they can see the benefit for local people. Like in Europe, where people are healthy and active and move around more.”

Firmly locked into his latest active travel-related tangent, Tanfield continues: “They need to go to Europe and see how the infrastructure works and just copy it. I don’t even know where they come up with designs here, they spend so much money and it’s just wasted half the time.

“You see the cycle lanes in Manchester and you think, ‘who designed this? A monkey?’ No-one who actually rides a bike, anyway! It’s just the UK, innit?”

> “No plans” to save free-to-air Tour de France coverage, as fan behind dismissed petition asks: “Does the government truly care about growing cycling?”

And while the Tour de France coming to the UK could spark a renewed interest in active travel and cycling, Tanfield is also quick to note that – unless you’re standing on the side of the road – many cyclists could be financially shut out of watching the third British Grand Départ on television.

“I don’t think watching British races should be paywalled, and don’t get me started on TNT, which is 30 quid a month,” he says. “But what can you do? It’s big corporates, they can do what they want, they’ve got the monopoly.

“But everyone will go back to illegal streaming now, it’s the only way,” he laughs. “I guess we’ve just been spoilt. We used to watch dodgy live streams that gave your computer a virus, and then GCN came along, and everyone got spoiled by that because it was so cheap.

“And now it’s just been monopolised now. The coverage is great though, and they bought the rights for it so they can charge what they want. And if people don’t want to pay for it, they’ll just not watch it.

“But it’s just such a shock, it’s just like two fingers to fans. They’re not offering anything additional, it’s just the same as last year, just with a different logo. But they’re charging 300 per cent more!”

Having put the cycling world to rights for the last hour, does Tanfield see a future for himself as a two-wheeled politician?

“No, no, I’m far too straight-talking…”

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