British Continental team Ribble Weldtite have announced they are signing brothers Harry and Charlie Tanfield for the 2022 season.
Harry, 26, moves to the team following three years at WorldTour level with Katusha, Ag2r La Mondiale, and Qhubeka-NextHash respectively. His current team is on the brink of folding, having told all riders on their roster to find new teams for 2022 as they attempt to find a last-minute solution to secure a long-term future.
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It's not the first time Harry has signed for Ribble Weldtite, having originally agreed to join the team for 2021 before the opportunity to join Qhubeka on the WorldTour came in December of 2020.
Harry recently impressed at the British National Championships in Lincoln, where he took second in the circuit race behind the in-form Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), who then later pipped him to third in the gruelling road race that finished on the Michaelgate climb. He failed to add to his biggest career win at the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire while riding on the WorldTour, but did make his Grand Tour debut with Ag2r at the Vuelta a España in 2020.
On joining Ribble Weldtite, Harry said: "With the current situation, I’m delighted to have found a place at a team that can support my ambitions of returning to the highest level in the sport. I want to continue progressing as a rider and help Charlie to develop on the road. I believe I can do so successfully here with a strong European race program.
"I’ve known the team at Ribble Weldtite for years, competing both with and against many of their current riders. I am looking forward to picking up where I left off at the Nationals and getting stuck in again at the sharp end!"
Charlie, 24, meanwhile moves across to Ribble Weldtite from fellow British Continental team Canyon-dhb-Sungod, who he joined in 2017. The younger of the brothers has been predominantly track focused in his career so far, winning national titles, a Commonwealth gold, and a World Championships gold. He was also part of the Great Britain team pursuit squad at the Tokyo Olympics this year, where he was thrown into action to replace the injured Ed Clancy.
“I'm really looking forward to getting started with the team for 2022," Charlie said. "From seeing the team develop from a local club team to what it is today is really encouraging - I can't wait to get stuck into some road racing with the team and develop as a rider.”
Team principal Tom Timothy said he's excited to work with both the Tanfields to offer them more opportunities to compete for victories and deliver some notable results for the team.
“We’re delighted to add both Tanfield’s to the team for 2022," Timothy said.
"We’ve known both riders for most of their cycling careers, indeed briefly signing Harry for 2021 before assisting in his step back up to World Tour with Team Qhubeka NextHash. We’re excited to have Harry and Charlie for 2022, particularly looking forward to developing Charlie’s untapped potential on the road.
"For the past few seasons we’ve had our eye on Charlie and felt he’s been sadly underutilised with limited development opportunities on the road. With the team’s expertise at providing riders with the right environment and race calendar we’re expecting to see both Tanfields produce some outstanding results."
