Ineos Grenadiers have announced yet another signing, this time young British talent Ben Turner on a two-year deal.
Turner, who joins Ineos from Trinity Racing after a year's spell with the development team, has some excellent results to his name as an under 23 rider including finishing runner up to Leo Hayter (DSM Development) in the U23 time trial at the British National Championships.
The 22-year-old has also finished third on a stage of the U23 Giro d'Italia and a stage of the Tour de Alsace, as well as 14th place at the Circuit de Wallonie which was won by Christophe Laporte (Cofidis).
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So far, Turner's career has been very similar to his soon-to-be team-mate, Tom Pidcock with a predominant focus on cyclocross more than road in the early part of his career.
Turner spoke of his excitement of joining the team and his new goals as a road rider: "Tom [Pidcock] and I have been speaking a lot about going back into the cross season, we’ve been speaking about it all year actually,
"We’ll start in December, it’s going to feel weird not having turned up to race in October, but I can’t wait, I’m really excited to start racing again.
"I think it leads really well into next year, into the Classics. It complements that racing really well, you can see it in riders like Mathieu [van de Poel] (Alpecin-Fenix), Wout [Van Aert] (Jumbo-Visma) and Tom, so I’m excited to do that."
Turner joins a new crop of young talent joining Ineos such as Luke Plapp who joined earlier in the year as a stagiaire as well as U23 German road race champion, Kim Heiduk who will also be joining in January 2022.
American and British talents, Magnus Sheffield and Ben Tulett have also signed on with the team for next year. The surprise signing in Monday's spate of announcements was that of Spanish national champion, Omar Fraile from Astana-Premier Tech.
Rod Ellingworth, Ineos' deputy team principal, said on Turner's signing: "Ben has shown a real strength in character from a young age, it takes a lot of courage to move to a different country at the age of 17, and that kind of learning experience really helps young riders progress.
"I’m looking forward to seeing him grow within the team and think that he has the talent, experience and willingness to learn that will stand him in good stead for his first year in the WorldTour with us."
Turner spoke about how he's honoured and excited about starting his WorldTour journey with Ineos Grenadiers as the only British squad in the top tier of cycling as well as looking at the sort of rider he can become in the coming seasons as he develops.
"It's a big step so when I think about what I want to achieve," Turner said. "It’s about learning a lot, that’s what you’re kind of there to do in the first year.”
