British Cycling confirmed that the promising 21-year-old has chosen to leave the programme. Reporting and words by Sam Tobin
Promising track star Germain Burton has left the British Cycling Olympic Development Programme, the organisation has confirmed.
The 21-year-old rider, son of former British national track champion Maurice Burton, was considered one of British Cycling’s hottest prospects, having impressed on both track and road in his short career.
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Burton won a bronze medal in the team pursuit at January’s UCI Track World Cup meeting in Cali, Colombia, alongside Matt Gibson, Christoper Latham and Mark Stewart, securing Great Britain’s World Cup gold in the process, but has since decided to leave the organisation.
Burton declined to comment on his departure from the programme, but it is not believed that his decision to leave British Cycling’s programme was related to allegations of sexism and bullying within the British team.
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His father Maurice was himself a three-time British national champion on the track, before being forced to retire following a serious crash at the Buenos Aires Six Day race in 1984.
Burton seemed destined to replicate, or even surpass, his father’s success in the sport when he burst onto the scene by winning the famous Bec CC hill-climb in 2010 at the age of just 15, defending his title the following year.
Burton won the team pursuit at the British National Track Championships in both 2014 and 2015 and looked likely to equal his dad’s mark of three national championships this year.
Burton is currently working at his father’s bike shop, De Ver Cycles in Streatham, while he decides on the next step in his career.