Former pro Matt Holmes is back on his bike and loving every minute of it
At the end of 2022, a 29-yearold Matt Holmes hung up his wheels after 11 years as a pro cyclist, the final three of which were at WorldTour level with Lotto-Soudal. The man from Wigan had fallen out of love with the sport.
“I stopped because I didn’t really enjoy it that much, that last year,” he told Cycling Weekly. “I got a normal job, I did that for, like, four days. I was working for a sports travel agency, I was going to be an ambassador. It was just a job to help pay my bills. I wasn’t in a good place at the time, everything went wrong all at once. I just didn’t know what to do for a long time. I somehow managed to pay my mortgage, just through reaching out to people and doing different things. It was a random year.”
Eighteen months on, Holmes is winning again. The 30-yearold announced his return to road racing with victory at the Rapha Lincoln GP, and followed it up by winning the Gralloch, the UK’s premier gravel race (see p16). He is back.
However, his future does not primarily lie on the road – or the gravel – but on the track. Holmes has unretired in order to target a spot on GB’s team pursuit squad, the reigning European champions and among the favourites for this summer’s Olympic Games. “I’ve got so much more respect for elite track riders now,” Holmes said. “It’s so technical, with such high pressure. But in terms of numbers, I’m one of the best, which is why BC think they’re onto something. There’s obviously competition, but I’m only doing it if I can get on to the team and go and become world champion and stuff like that.
“I’ve got no interest in just going to Nations Cups, I don’t want to make a career of that. I want to be in the best four, so I’ll give it my best shot. If we try everything and it’s still not working, then I’ll reassess and maybe retire again.”
The return to competition came after riding with Jonny Wale, one of the men behind HUUB Wattbike, and after he showed promise in track testing.
“I stopped riding completely for a good few weeks, then I just kept riding for fun,” Holmes explained. “I got to know Jonny, just rode with him because I needed someone to talk to. I was on a gravel bike because that’s the only one I had
