This week on the Cyclist Magazine Podcast, James and Will are joined by Harry Tanfield.
Born and raised in Yorkshire, Harry started racing aged ten, and having caught teams’ attention with strong performances at races like Junior Paris-Roubaix, he turned professional aged 20 with JLT-Condor. ProConti racing turned WordTour after a landmark season in 2018 that saw Tanfield take silver at the Commonwealth Games time-trial and claim a British National track title and World Cup wins on the track plus an all-important stage win at the Tour de Yorkshire, making him the first Yorkshireman to win a stage of the race.
The following year Harry joined WorldTour team Katusha-Alpecin on a two year contract, but by the end of the season the team had folded. A few more unsettled seasons followed with moves to AG2R in 2020 then Qhubeka for 2021, but by 2022 Harry was back racing ProConti with Ribble-Weldtite, TDT then Saint Piran. Then, in 2025, he reacquainted himself with Ribble as part of the Ribble Outliers gravel team, for whom he still rides.
In this chat, Harry talks about the good old days of elbows-out crit racing, mulls over the British race calendar’s seeming implosion, speaks candidly about his tumultuous time on the WorldTour and how he handled team collapse and personal tragedy, plus what the gravel scene offers to riders coming from the road.
Our chat begins at 6:19
This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout).
This episode is also brought to you by the Maserati Grecale SUV car. For more information, go to maserati.com for more details