Podcast | From DNF to Lincoln legend: James McKay’s three-year ascent
James McKay’s one-armed salute on the cobbles of Michaelgate looked like an overnight success. In fact, it was the end of a three-season arc that began with him riding back to Sheffield in tears after a 2022 DNF and a phone call to his coach, Dave Coulson, to say he was done with National-level racing. Dave said “nonsense”, and that single word turned the story. In this conversation with host Denny Gray, the 28-year-old Yorkshireman unpacks the moments - and the many people - that lifted him from “head in the bin” to Britain’s most coveted domestic win.
James McKay joins host Denny Gray fresh from a career-making victory at the 2025 Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Sheffield-based rider in Wheelbase-CabTech-Castelli green relives the sprint up Michaelgate that delivered his first National A win and explains why “it’s just about sunk in” now the champagne haze has cleared.
The conversation rewinds to 2022, when McKay was black-flagged at the same race, rode home in despair and phoned development-team boss Dave Coulson to quit – only for Coulson to reply “nonsense” and insist the talent was still there. That single vote of confidence pulled McKay back from the brink and set in motion the comeback the pair dissect on air.
McKay credits a whole cast of British road-racing royalty – Ali Slater, Tom Stewart, the Downing brothers, Graham Briggs, and 1995 Lincoln winner Mark Walsham – for the chain-gang sessions and blunt advice that “made me realise I was actually at a decent level”. Their wisdom, plus a breakout 2023 season, helped him banish the imposter syndrome he once masked by calling every good result “a fluke”.
Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix 2025 – James McKay (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) wins. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
He also lifts the lid on Wheelbase’s distinctive ethos: “we race selfishly together”. With no fixed leader, prize money split evenly and trust that everyone will get their day, the system lets multiple engines fire without ego – something McKay believes was decisive both at East Cleveland and again in Lincoln’s heat.
Race-day detail comes thick and fast: the late attack that shed Ben Granger, Alex Peters’ solo gamble, and a three-abreast elbow-fight into the famous left-hander. On the climb McKay twice kicked clear – “with the roar of the crowd I had no idea who was on my wheel, so I just kept drilling it”. Friends who had trained with him all winter formed a noisy green wall that, he says, “gave me wings”; later they soaked up the moment in the pub while he nursed a podium sip of champagne before driving home.
Looking ahead, the Lincoln trophy resets nothing and everything. McKay still wants a crack at the National Road Championships, plans to focus on the National Road Series rather than the Circuit Series, and admits he’d consider a return to UCI Continental level “if the right people and calendar came along” -but at 28 he’s determined to savour the sport rather than chase a long-shot pro contract.
Tune in for a candid masterclass in resilience, team chemistry and the sheer emotional punch of Britain’s cobbled monument – plus the reminder that sometimes a single word of faith can change an athlete’s life.
James McKay joins host Denny Gray fresh from a career-making victory at the 2025 Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Sheffield-based rider in Wheelbase-CabTech-Castelli green relives the sprint up Michaelgate that delivered his first National A win and explains why “it’s just about sunk in” now the champagne haze has cleared.
The conversation rewinds to 2022, when McKay was black-flagged at the same race, rode home in despair and phoned development-team boss Dave Coulson to quit – only for Coulson to reply “nonsense” and insist the talent was still there. That single vote of confidence pulled McKay back from the brink and set in motion the comeback the pair dissect on air.
McKay credits a whole cast of British road-racing royalty – Ali Slater, Tom Stewart, the Downing brothers, Graham Briggs, and 1995 Lincoln winner Mark Walsham – for the chain-gang sessions and blunt advice that “made me realise I was actually at a decent level”. Their wisdom, plus a breakout 2023 season, helped him banish the imposter syndrome he once masked by calling every good result “a fluke”.
He also lifts the lid on Wheelbase’s distinctive ethos: “we race selfishly together”. With no fixed leader, prize money split evenly and trust that everyone will get their day, the system lets multiple engines fire without ego – something McKay believes was decisive both at East Cleveland and again in Lincoln’s heat.
Race-day detail comes thick and fast: the late attack that shed Ben Granger, Alex Peters’ solo gamble, and a three-abreast elbow-fight into the famous left-hander. On the climb McKay twice kicked clear – “with the roar of the crowd I had no idea who was on my wheel, so I just kept drilling it”. Friends who had trained with him all winter formed a noisy green wall that, he says, “gave me wings”; later they soaked up the moment in the pub while he nursed a podium sip of champagne before driving home.
Looking ahead, the Lincoln trophy resets nothing and everything. McKay still wants a crack at the National Road Championships, plans to focus on the National Road Series rather than the Circuit Series, and admits he’d consider a return to UCI Continental level “if the right people and calendar came along” -but at 28 he’s determined to savour the sport rather than chase a long-shot pro contract.
Tune in for a candid masterclass in resilience, team chemistry and the sheer emotional punch of Britain’s cobbled monument – plus the reminder that sometimes a single word of faith can change an athlete’s life.
Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and many other platforms.
Huge thanks to Will Jones at Redbricks Media for producing this episode.
Featured image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
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