Monday’s announcement that One Pro Cycling would move up to the UCI's Pro Continental ranks in 2016 is just the latest stepping stone for Britain’s fastest growing professional team. Former international cricketer and team owner, Matt Prior has been vocal about the squad’s hugely ambitious programme but he has backed up his initial promises of team growth with actions, and in 2016 One Pro Cycling will be vying for invitations to some of the World’s biggest races.
Cyclingnews caught up with Prior to talk about the team’s development, their rider recruitment, the UCI Biological Passport and their racing ambitions for next season.
Cyclingnews: What does securing a Pro Continental licence mean in terms of a racing and structural sense for the team?
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Matt Prior: You can’t overplay the significance of how big it is to get confirmation of the licence because we made it clear that we wanted to step up and we made the signings of staff and riders. Everything goes up, from the number of coaches and directors you need to athletes. You’re also looking at a global race programme, not just a domestic one, so everything goes up five-fold. You can’t really compare it to Continental cycling. We feel that this is a really professional cycling team and brand. We said from the beginning how ambitious we are and this is certainly a huge step in the right direction but it’s merely a step. This isn’t the end game and we’ve got to keep learning and building before we can reach out ultimate ambition.
CN: In terms of ambition a lot of teams come onto the scene and talk about the WorldTour and the Tour de France but they don’t all make it. What’s been the key factor in your squad’s progression, making that next step and backing up those words?
MP: There have been a number of things. When we first launched a team and we made our ambitions clear we didn’t realise that so many had said the same before but for us they weren’t just words. They were actions and you can talk and make big promises but it became clear that people would only believe in our ambitions if we backed it up through actions. That’s the first thing we did. We put a huge amount in creating the right structure, environment and culture. That was the first focus - to make sure the riders were successful on the road, because lets face it, if people are going to follow a sports team they want to follow a successful one. We put the right people in the right places. It’s good people that make good teams.
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