157. Rob Britton: Slave to the road turned gravel supremo

This week, James and Will are joined by ex-road pro turned gravel ace, Rob Britton. Born in Saskatchewan in Canada in 1984, Rob turned pro in 2010 with American team Bissell Pro Cycling and for the next 12 seasons raced at Continental level, arguably enjoying his best years with Rally Cycling (not that Raleigh, although he did race for that Raleigh in 2013), where he won the Tour of Utah, his second Tour of Gila in New Mexico and the Canadian National Time-Trial title. Given such strong showings in such hot, long and multi-day races, Rob was a safe bet when he – like lots of his road colleagues – moved into gravel. At first riding as a privateer – sponsored with a bit of kit but essentially riding team-less – Rob finished 6th in his first big gravel race, Unbound, in 2022, then the following year won Badlands – all 800km and 16,000 vertical metres of it. 2023 saw an incredible result at Traka, where he finished second behind fellow ex-road pro Pete Stetina, however arguably his best result so far came when the then 40-year-old beat Lachlan Morton at Unbound XL, finishing the 578km course at an astonishing average speed of 32.4kmh, smashing the course record by 12 minutes in the process.

Such rides have seen Rob become part of the OVRLND adventure team, with backing from Easton Cycling, Castelli and Factor bikes, who’s radical aero suspension gravel bike, the Sarana, Rob rode at this year’s Traka 560.

Whatever bike Rob rides he manages to make gruelling long-distance look easy, but as we chat about in this episode, his journey in cycling has been anything but, fraught with the difficulties of racing for smaller teams, the US’s ever dwindling race calendar, and having to reinvent himself as a gravel racer, from canvassing for sponsors to looking after his own bikes. We caught up with Rob in Italy ahead of racing at The Hills Gravel Race in Treviso in March.

Chat begins at 6.54

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This episode is also brought to you by the Maserati Grecale SUV car. For more information, go to maserati.com

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