Ben Granger interview: in the eye of the tornado

It’s no secret that the National Road Series, and indeed the domestic scene as a whole, has gone through a tumultuous time since the Covid-19 pandemic, with teams struggling to keep afloat and races fighting for survival. However, Ben Granger, a 23 year old based in Italy on the MG.K vis Colors for Peace UCI Continental team, believes there is plenty to the positive about, as he reflected on his Lancaster Grand Prix victory with The British Continental.

“It’s probably the win I’m most proud of,” says the Cumbrian, twice a victor in the competitive Italian calendar. “It’s a local race for me, so to be able to do it in front of your friends and family, to look back on it having executed a plan perfectly, and be on a good day physically, it’s something I can take a lot of confidence from for the next few races. It feels like a lot of hard work paid off last Sunday, it all came together quite nicely.”

Granger soloed to victory in Williamson Park after bridging to the early breakaway, then attacking it over the top of the final climb. A rare appearance on UK roads, Granger has ridden a host of high profile UCI races, as well as the Giro Next Gen, one of the toughest and most prestigious under-23 races in the world, since arriving in Italy to race for the Zappi Racing Team in 2021, putting him in a unique position to critique the domestic scene.

People love to say the scene is dead, and throw a lot of negativity around it, which I don’t think is particularly helpful for anyone involved

“People love to say the scene is dead, and throw a lot of negativity around it, which I don’t think is particularly helpful for anyone involved. But there are some things that are positive,” he explains. 

“The level of the races is high. On Sunday for example, I normalised over 5w/kg for nearly four hours. In terms of the numbers I was doing, I looked at them compared to a race I won in Italy in June, and they’re almost identical in terms of normalised power, average power and stuff like that. If you talk to the guys who perform well at UCI level like Finn Crockett, Zeb [Kyffin], they’ll probably tell you how physically demanding they find these races as well.

I know there’s a lot of guys who perform well in Italy who would come to a round of the National Road Series and get their head kicked in, to be honest

“Obviously it could be in so much better shape, where everyone wants it to be, but with Monument Cycling doing some good live streams, and The British Continental giving it a lot of exposure, hopefully it can get back to where it needs to be, and where it should be for the level of rider. I know there’s a lot of guys who perform well in Italy who would come to a round of the National Road Series and get their head kicked in, to be honest.”

Granger reveals the acute tactical decisions that go into winning a round of the National Road Series, where races are almost always, uncontrolled, unpredictable and frantic from the off.

“Lancaster is quite stressful – if you get everything right you can do quite well, but you have to be on it all day, there’s a lot to think about.

“I’m not a pure sprinter, I’m not a pure climber, I think my best assets are being versatile and having a really good engine. It’s just a case of trying to work out how to utilise the assets that you’ve got and manipulate the race to suit yourself.

I’m not a pure sprinter, I’m not a pure climber, I think my best assets are being versatile and having a really good engine

“In the bunch we had been pretty stop start. It was pretty heavy metal racing, lots of attacks going, you could feel it was going to snap.

“If it was a big group coming into the last climb with pure climbers like Matt Holmes or Will Smith, I knew I was going to be in trouble. If you wanted to be in a move that was going to go across, you knew you had to spend your energy and try and get in a few moves.  When it went, I was with George [Kimber] and Tom [Martin]. You know they’re super strong lads, so you know once you’ve got that gap, the elastics snapped a bit it’s time to push and get across.”

Having joined up with the breakaway, Granger helped consolidate its lead, before turning his attention to how to win the race; whittling down the group before going solo late on.

“From the break I was in, if I’m coming into the park with Jimmy [McKay], I know I’m going to be in trouble again. You’ve kind of just got to manipulate the race to those assets I’ve got, without being a specialist at anything particular.”

Granger’s win in Lancaster was in stark contrast to a number of other races on his programme with the MG.K vis Colors for Peace team. “It’s quite the change.” He says, noting his previous appearance was the UCI 1.1 ranked Giro Dell’Appennino a fortnight prior.

“The style of racing is completely different, the length of racing is completely different,” he points out bluntly, referring to races on the upper echelons of the UCI calendar.

There will just be random points where you’re just clinging onto the wheel in front; you feel like you’re in the eye of the tornado

“The pro racing, I can’t quite put my finger on what makes it so hard, but there will just be random points where you’re just clinging onto the wheel in front; you feel like you’re in the eye of the tornado and you look ahead upfront and they haven’t even started attacking yet!

“Obviously your expectations are different going in – you see UAE [Team Emirates] and Astana [Qazaqstan] and the WorldTour teams, and you know you’re not there to win, so you’re racing in a different way. It’s almost simpler to try and do everything right and survive as long as you can and see where you’re at, go full gas until you get dropped; that’s where I am at the moment.”

Granger joined his current team in August 2022 after impressing with Zappi, a team he still has close links with. “In 2022, I was a stagiaire. People have done that before me like [New Zealander] Paul Wright and Paul Double, they’ve all gone from Zappi to MG.K vis.

“[Team owner Flávio] Zappi gets on with the guys in MG.K and recommends a rider, or two, most years; that year it was me and Matthew Kingston. It works really well because we still live with Zappi in Italy, so we’ve got that little British community. It makes it a lot easier, you’ve got people to train with, people who you really get on with and you’ve still got [Flávio] Zappi there – he’s been such a good mentor to me, he always tells me what you need to hear, you can go and see him at any time of the day if you need to chat to him.”

Granger is set to complete his second full year with the MG.K vis Colors for Peace team with a series of Italian National Series races, which he compares to the National Road Series pre pandemic, followed by the Italian Autumn Classics as the season heads towards Il Lombardia.

“I think the team does a really good job of giving us a calendar where we’ve got the Italian national races, where there’s no pro teams there, where you can actually animate a race, use team tactics and learn how to win a race. Then you’ve got the bigger races, where your job is just to get in the break or survive as long as you can.

“Every time you do one of these races, when you step back down again, you do feel like you’ve come up a level and it does feel a bit more comfortable and a bit more relaxed.”

I’m quite lucky in that I really don’t get too wrapped up in this obsession to turn pro. It’s a bit of a cliche, but I just try and get better every day, every race, and have it in the back of your mind, and hopefully one day it’ll happen

Granger is one of a host of riders looking to move into the professional ranks, his eye on a move to a second division Pro team, a journey tried and tested by new Jayco-Alula signing, the aforementioned Paul Double.

“I know I’ll need a slice of luck or to step up again physically to be able to do it,” he says about his ambitions, stressing that it doesn’t cross his mind every time he pins on a number, or steps on the bike. “I’m quite lucky in that I really don’t get too wrapped up in this obsession to turn pro. It’s a bit of a cliche, but I just try and get better every day, every race, and have it in the back of your mind, and hopefully one day it’ll happen.

“You think it’s possible, but having seen someone actually do it, it shows a British person can go into that team environment, do the same races I’m doing and perform, then step up, it’s exactly what you want to see in my position.”

Featured image: Craig Zadoronyj/SWpix.com