Luke Rowe

“Luke Rowe is one of this country’s outstanding prospects for the future.” – Dave Brailsford, Sky ProCycling Team Principal and GB Cycling Performance Director

Luke started cycling aged 10 in his home town of Cardiff, having spent many a mile on the back of his parents tandem! His cycling education started at the famous Maindy Flyers club that has also developed talents such as 2 time Olympic Champion, Geraint Thomas.

In 2006, aged just 16 Luke signed for his first team, Glendene that was a ‘Who’s who?’ of junior cycling talent with riders such as Pete Kennaugh, Alex Dowsett, Russell Hampton, Johnny Bellis, and Luke’s older brother Matt. Luke immediately made a big impact on the Junior scene winning the Junior Tour of Ireland and getting a bronze medal in the National Championships in the Team Pursuit.

In 2007 Luke was invited to join British Cycling’s Olympic Development Program, and again more success followed with Luke winning the European Junior Team Pursuit title, and his first Senior National title winning the Madison with Adam Blythe.

In 2008 in his last year as a Junior Luke had significant success both on the road and on the track. He again won a European Junior title, but this time in the Madison discipline with Mark Christian. He was also runner-up in the European Junior road race championships and secured 6 other podium positions on the road across Europe.

In 2009 Luke graduated into the British Cycling Olympic Academy and started riding in some of Europe’s top Under 23 races and took a victory in the prestigious ZLM Tour in Holland, beating the likes of John Degenkolb, Taylor Phinney, and Elia Viviani. Later in the year Luke would take 2 Top 5 placings in the Tour de l’Avenir, which is often referred to as the Under 23 Tour de France.

2010 saw Luke win his second Senior National Championship with a win in the Madison, this time with Mark Christian, he won the GP Pogiana in Italy, and topped off his year with a Bronze medal in the Track World Cup in Melbourne in the Team Pursuit.

2011 was nothing short of spectacular and would culminate in Luke being offered a contract to ride for one of the best teams in the World Sky ProCycling. In 2011 Luke took Top 10 finishes in no less than 15 races! He again won the ZLM Tour becoming the first rider to win the race twice, and he again defended his National Madison title with Pete Kennaugh.

2012 has been Luke’s first year riding in a ProTour team, riding for the likes of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins. Riding at this level has been a big step up but as the season went on Luke found himself getting stronger and stronger. This culminated in wearing the Young Riders jerseys in both the Criterium Internationale and The Tour of Denmark, and then holding the Overall Leaders Gold Jersey at the Tour of Britain having taken his first pro win on the opening stage.

2013 continued where 2012 left off with Top 5 stage placings in the Tour of Qatar and Vuelta a Burgos. Luke has also ridden all of his 3 main goals for 2013, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and his first Grand Tour, Vuelta a Espana. His season culminating in again being selected for Great Britain for the World Road Race Championships.

2014 saw Luke further establish himself in Team Sky’s ‘classics’ squad with strong showings in support of his team mates at all the major classics including Paris-Roubaix. He then represented Team Wales at the Commonwealth Games where he supported team mate Geraint Thomas who took the Gold medal. His season ended with completing his first Grand Tour, Vuelta a Espana, and the World Road Race Championships.

2015 will see Luke target some major goals. Again he will want to be a key part of Team Sky’s ‘classics’ group with the aim of getting on the podium at one of the cobbled classics. The second half of the season will see him target securing a place in Team Sky’s Tour de France team.