Rob Britton’s podium performance at the USA Pro Challenge last year capped off what turned out to be a dream season for the Canadian. Although he was forced to watch his former team SmartStop fold, he signed a two-year deal with the newly named Rally Cycling (formerly called Optum) and says he’s ready for the excitement and challenges that come with building on his past successes.
“I believe my position on the team is to facilitate success,” Britton told Cyclingnews. “So whether that’s going for the podium in Tour of California or riding on the front and putting Eric Young in a position to win a stage in Utah or Colorado, or setting up one of the guys to take a KOM or Sprint jersey. As long as the team finds success, it’s job done.”
Britton admitted that he nearly left professional cycling twice, in the fall of 2011 and 2012, after several rocky seasons but a last-minute contract with the UK-based Raleigh team kept him in the sport in 2013. The following year he signed a deal with Michael Creed’s SmartStop team through the 2015 season, which ended up being his most successful two years in cycling so far.
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“I don’t think either of us knew what was possible,” Britton said. “I’ve learnt and developed more in the last 24 months working with Mike Creed and training properly with Chris Baldwin than the 10 years prior. The guys and the team I was surrounded by helped me redefine what I was capable of as a bike racer.”
Although Britton had a couple of strong rides in 2014 at the Vuelta Independencia Nacional and Tour de Beauce, both second overall, his stand-out season was last year. He took the overall win at the Tour of the Gila in May and went on to a top-10 overall at the Tour of California, in part due to an 11th place on the stage 7 summit finish on Mt Baldy.
Come August, Britton turned heads with a second place in the USA Pro Challenge stage 5 time trial in Breckenridge, followed by a third place overall behind winner Rohan Dennis and runner-up Brent Bookwalter, both from BMC.
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