He won plaudits from teammates and commentators alike on his WorldTour debut, but James Knox was just pleased his bow at the elite level didn’t go horribly wrong and uncover his faults as a cyclist.
The 22-year-old British rider recorded a very creditable 64th finish in the Abu Dhabi Tour’s General Classification on Sunday – better than half of the 132-man field at the third UCI WorldTour race of the 2018 season.
He enjoyed a best finish of 49th on the final stage ascent of Jebel Hafeet – 5mins 25secs behind stage and overall winner Alejandro Valverde – which helped him finish 13th in the young rider category.
A stunning second place in the Under-23 category at 2017’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege race was enough to convince Quick-Step Floors CEO Patrick Lefevere to sign him from UCI Continental Team Wiggins last September – having been on the Belgian team’s radar all year.
But before making his bow on the big stage in the Emirates, Knox admitted he was anxious not to make any mistakes on his debut.
“Before coming here one of the things I would have been anxious about was how I rode for the team at the front of the race,” the Cumbria native told Sport360.
“It’s not something I’ve had to do before and I’m quite small so I’m not that powerful. I guess I didn’t really want to get told on the radio ‘James, you need to be down the front now’.
“And not being able to do that, which was my worst nightmare. Being at the elite level but feeling like I’m not cutting it.
“I’ve been able to do what’s being asked of me, everyone seems to be happy with what I’ve done so it’s a huge relief and hopefully something to build on. I’ve got a lot of good races coming up and this has been a great place to start.”
Knox didn’t just make up the numbers for a strong Quick-Step side selected for Abu Dhabi. He started putting in some mammoth turns on the front, drawing attention with domestique performances that helped Elia Viviani to one stage win.
“I’m loving it at the minute,” he said.
“It’s my first race so I’m still settling in to the team but so far they’ve been happy with what I’ve been doing. We won the second stage so that was an amazing feeling, to be part of a winning team and to feel a part of it.
“I know I wasn’t the last man for Elia or anything special but I did a bit of work during the stage and the team savours the victories which is really nice. They win a lot but don’t take it for granted. We all had a little celebration after and it was really special.”
After Viviani – the 2016 Olympic Games omnium champion – won Stage 2 on Thursday from Yas Mall to Yas Beach, the Italian heaped praise on Knox in his post-race interviews.
Knox helped pull the second echelon group back up to the first group on a chaotic day of racing heavily affected by crosswinds. His work gave Viviani hopes of victory, moving to the front of the race to prevent further attacks in the final 20km.
And Knox admitted Viviani and the rest of the team – including Fabio Sabatini and Julian Alaphilippe – have welcomed him with open arms.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” he added.
“You have the idea some of the top guys might be a little stand-offish or not have much respect for the young guys, but that’s not the case at all. The bigger the name on the team the more time they’ve had and happier they are to show me the ropes.
“They’ve got so much experience and are so established themselves they’re happy to help out the young lads. They’ve all taken me in and taught me a lot already.”
On Viviani in-particular, he said: “We’re completely different riders so he’s not had to sit me down and show me the ropes, but every stage, win or lose, he’s given me a pat on the back, which shows the class of the guy.
“He appreciates everything the guys do for him on the team. He loses a stage and he doesn’t start blaming anyone. The team did a good job for him on the first three stages and he’s appreciative of that. I can’t fault him.”
The future for British cycling certainly looks bright – with Knox and Chris Lawless’ (Team Sky) rise to the World Tour this year bringing the number of Brits at the top level for 2018 to 19.
They are the eighth-most represented nation in the WorldTour peloton and Knox has talked up the new generation following in the footsteps of Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish.
“There’s already a lot of established GB riders,” said Knox.
“We’ve got myself, James Shaw, Scott Davies, Tao (Geoghegan Hart) all in our first few years as WorldTour riders. Maybe give us five or six years and we’ll be solid, established pros and getting up there in races.
“It’s still early days, and there are plenty of young guys coming up behind us. It’s exciting for British cycling and hopefully the future’s good.”
Knox is now a resident of Girona, having moved to Spain’s Catalonia region in 2016. And even though he states people who describe him as the next great British cycling hope are “getting carried away”, there are rumours from Spain that he recently broke a climbing record held by 2012 Tour de France winners and five-time Olympic gold medallist Wiggins.
“Maybe people are getting carried away as they’ve seen me on the TV and riding for Quick-Step but I’m not setting the world on fire,” said Knox, addressing the question of being the next British star.
“But it’s not a burden. Guys like Tao and Scott Davies, we’re all the same age. Tao’s been on the WorldTour for a year already and has achieved quite a lot more so has proven to be a level ahead.
“Me and Scott are up and coming, we came from Team Wiggins, and hopefully in a few years we’ll be following the route of the Yates brothers (Adam and Simon), Froome and (Ben) Swift, being the next generation.”
