Cycling Sheffield set their 2026 squad as development cycle enters year two
A grounded, developmental approach defines Cycling Sheffield’s 2026 squad - six riders return, two new talents join, and the team continues to chart its own steady course.
For more than a decade, Cycling Sheffield have stood slightly apart from the rest of the British road scene – geographically, philosophically, and structurally. Their funding model, rooted in local business partnerships and civic identity rather than traditional sponsorship frameworks, has long given the team a stability that belies the fragility of the domestic landscape. In recent years, that distinctiveness has felt increasingly valuable. As teams around them rise and fall with each sponsorship cycle, Cycling Sheffield have continued to do what they have always done: develop riders, nurture talent, and remain unshakably grounded in place.
That sense of rootedness framed both of Dave Coulson’s previous conversations with The British Continental. In early 2024, he described the team’s “unique geographical funding model” – a patchwork of Sheffield partners who buy into the project because it reflects something of themselves. By December, the discussion had shifted to the team’s next evolution: a new generation built around younger riders, a deliberate lowering of the average age, and a return to the team’s original purpose of creating a pathway for cyclists aged 17 to 22.
The season as a whole was satisfying in seeing our riders develop, and accept the steep learning curve they’re faced with
It is that evolution which shapes Cycling Sheffield’s newly confirmed 2026 squad. Rather than another reset, this is chapter two of a carefully planned cycle.
When Coulson reflects on the 2025 season, he does so with a characteristic mix of honesty and patience. “2025 was the start of a new cycle for us,” he says now. Six new riders joined the fold in January, pulling the average age to under nineteen. Experience was thin, enthusiasm was not. “The season as a whole was satisfying in seeing our riders develop, and accept the steep learning curve they’re faced with.”
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
And there were results amid the learning. James Sawyers finished second at the Andrew Matheson Memorial Road Race, later taking sixth overall at the notably selective Mennock Pass Stage Race. Alex Foster sprinted to eighth at the Ilkley Grand Prix – a National Circuit Series round – while Dan Eastham, who departs the team this winter, took fourth at the Halesowen Academy Road Race. Quiet markers, but genuine signs of a young group beginning to find its rhythm.
This focus on development, rather than results, is not a posture – it is the team’s architecture. In last winter’s interview, Coulson spoke about recruiting riders earlier, giving them longer roads into the sport, and rebuilding the team’s identity around progression rather than outcomes. The 2026 squad is the natural continuation of that commitment.
Our main focus for 2026 is development. If that’s done right, then the results will come
“Our main focus for 2026 is development,” he reiterates. “If that’s done right, then the results will come.”
This is not a throwaway line but the ethos Cycling Sheffield have spent years refining: trust the process, not the podium.
The 2026 roster retains its backbone: Alex Foster, Sam Barbour, James Sawyers, Nathan Smith, Denholm Edwards and Ryan Williams all return, with only Sam Chaplin and Dan Eastham moving on at the end of last season.
In the context of Cycling Sheffield’s long-term approach, retention is a strategy rather than convenience. “We find the most success comes when riders spend two or more years with us,” Coulson explains. The team’s history bears this out. Riders such as David Hird and Adam Mitchell flourished during their single years in Sheffield colours – both now racing in France – but the majority grow through multiple seasons inside the system.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Continuity provides something the wider domestic scene often cannot: a predictable environment in which a rider can fail, learn, and restart without fear of being discarded.
The new signings – Oliver Sergeant and Josh Horsfield – fit the template, even if one of them breaks it slightly.
Sergeant impressed in 2025 with fourth at the North West, Yorkshire & North East Regional Road Race Championships and seventh on stage two of the notoriously testing Peaks 2-Day. Horsfield arrives from Reflex Nopinz with a deeper palmarès: seven National B top tens, including victory on stage 1 of the Sherpa Performance Stage Race. At 24, he is older than the squad’s usual intake, but Coulson sees him as precisely the right rider at the right time.
“They’ll make good use of the opportunity Cycling Sheffield offers,” he says. “With proven ability, they should bring some good results.”
Horsfield, in particular, aligns with the team’s renewed emphasis on progression abroad. The intention is clear: Coulson says he wants to help facilitate his move to Europe for 2027. Two decades of British riders have passed through the turbulence of the National B and National A systems before discovering themselves in France or Belgium; the team has always seen itself as a bridge to those worlds. Horsfield is the latest rider to walk that path.
If we do this right, they won’t stay with us
In your December 2024 piece, Coulson described the team’s job not as keeping talent but launching it: “If we do this right, they won’t stay with us.” Horsfield’s ambition is a live demonstration of that philosophy in action.
The race calendar reflects Cycling Sheffield’s familiar blend of domestic focus and selective forays across the Channel. “At the moment it’s likely to be predominantly UK races,” Coulson says, “along with Belgium, France and Italy.”These trips are not decorative; they are instrumental. Racing abroad is where young riders learn the lessons that British racing – with its shorter distances, rolling circuits and more contained pelotons – cannot teach.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
The squad will be a year older, stronger, physically more prepared. “Hopefully, we’ll have more results,” Coulson adds. But again, results are a by-product of the deeper purpose rather than the measure of it.
The instability in the domestic scene has arguably sharpened. Several key teams have folded in the past two seasons. Sponsorship volatility remains endemic. Races face rising costs and uncertainty. The centre cannot always hold.
Whilst teams folding is obviously not a good thing, we should appreciate the work put in by those teams and the opportunities they’ve offered riders
Coulson is weary of the narrative but accepts its truth. “It’s nothing new,” he says. “From the top of the sport down, teams face the same financial challenges, and this will not change. We can’t get away from the sponsorship model.” His response is not resignation, but perspective. “Whilst teams folding is obviously not a good thing, we should appreciate the work put in by those teams and the opportunities they’ve offered riders.”
In a sport that often mistakes noise for substance, this kind of realism feels almost radical.
So how has Cycling Sheffield endured where others have not?
Coulson gives no grand narrative, only a quietly revealing one. Stability has come from “fantastic partners… over the last 12 years.” From knowing the terrain. From pragmatically accepting the limits of the British system rather than fighting them. From constructing a team model that is not dependent on the winds of corporate sponsorship but grounded in Sheffield’s local ecosystem.
We previously described Cycling Sheffield’s approach as “breaking the mould.” In truth, Cycling Sheffield haven’t broken anything. They’ve simply chosen not to conform to a mould that rarely works.
As 2026 begins, the team enters the second year of its development project – not loudly, not with glossy unveilings or inflated expectations, but with a sense of purpose that feels stronger for its understatement. Six riders return. Two more join. The path continues.
For more than a decade, Cycling Sheffield have stood slightly apart from the rest of the British road scene – geographically, philosophically, and structurally. Their funding model, rooted in local business partnerships and civic identity rather than traditional sponsorship frameworks, has long given the team a stability that belies the fragility of the domestic landscape. In recent years, that distinctiveness has felt increasingly valuable. As teams around them rise and fall with each sponsorship cycle, Cycling Sheffield have continued to do what they have always done: develop riders, nurture talent, and remain unshakably grounded in place.
That sense of rootedness framed both of Dave Coulson’s previous conversations with The British Continental. In early 2024, he described the team’s “unique geographical funding model” – a patchwork of Sheffield partners who buy into the project because it reflects something of themselves. By December, the discussion had shifted to the team’s next evolution: a new generation built around younger riders, a deliberate lowering of the average age, and a return to the team’s original purpose of creating a pathway for cyclists aged 17 to 22.
It is that evolution which shapes Cycling Sheffield’s newly confirmed 2026 squad. Rather than another reset, this is chapter two of a carefully planned cycle.
When Coulson reflects on the 2025 season, he does so with a characteristic mix of honesty and patience. “2025 was the start of a new cycle for us,” he says now. Six new riders joined the fold in January, pulling the average age to under nineteen. Experience was thin, enthusiasm was not. “The season as a whole was satisfying in seeing our riders develop, and accept the steep learning curve they’re faced with.”
And there were results amid the learning. James Sawyers finished second at the Andrew Matheson Memorial Road Race, later taking sixth overall at the notably selective Mennock Pass Stage Race. Alex Foster sprinted to eighth at the Ilkley Grand Prix – a National Circuit Series round – while Dan Eastham, who departs the team this winter, took fourth at the Halesowen Academy Road Race. Quiet markers, but genuine signs of a young group beginning to find its rhythm.
This focus on development, rather than results, is not a posture – it is the team’s architecture. In last winter’s interview, Coulson spoke about recruiting riders earlier, giving them longer roads into the sport, and rebuilding the team’s identity around progression rather than outcomes. The 2026 squad is the natural continuation of that commitment.
“Our main focus for 2026 is development,” he reiterates. “If that’s done right, then the results will come.”
This is not a throwaway line but the ethos Cycling Sheffield have spent years refining: trust the process, not the podium.
The 2026 roster retains its backbone: Alex Foster, Sam Barbour, James Sawyers, Nathan Smith, Denholm Edwards and Ryan Williams all return, with only Sam Chaplin and Dan Eastham moving on at the end of last season.
In the context of Cycling Sheffield’s long-term approach, retention is a strategy rather than convenience. “We find the most success comes when riders spend two or more years with us,” Coulson explains. The team’s history bears this out. Riders such as David Hird and Adam Mitchell flourished during their single years in Sheffield colours – both now racing in France – but the majority grow through multiple seasons inside the system.
Continuity provides something the wider domestic scene often cannot: a predictable environment in which a rider can fail, learn, and restart without fear of being discarded.
The new signings – Oliver Sergeant and Josh Horsfield – fit the template, even if one of them breaks it slightly.
Sergeant impressed in 2025 with fourth at the North West, Yorkshire & North East Regional Road Race Championships and seventh on stage two of the notoriously testing Peaks 2-Day. Horsfield arrives from Reflex Nopinz with a deeper palmarès: seven National B top tens, including victory on stage 1 of the Sherpa Performance Stage Race. At 24, he is older than the squad’s usual intake, but Coulson sees him as precisely the right rider at the right time.
“They’ll make good use of the opportunity Cycling Sheffield offers,” he says. “With proven ability, they should bring some good results.”
Horsfield, in particular, aligns with the team’s renewed emphasis on progression abroad. The intention is clear: Coulson says he wants to help facilitate his move to Europe for 2027. Two decades of British riders have passed through the turbulence of the National B and National A systems before discovering themselves in France or Belgium; the team has always seen itself as a bridge to those worlds. Horsfield is the latest rider to walk that path.
In your December 2024 piece, Coulson described the team’s job not as keeping talent but launching it: “If we do this right, they won’t stay with us.” Horsfield’s ambition is a live demonstration of that philosophy in action.
The race calendar reflects Cycling Sheffield’s familiar blend of domestic focus and selective forays across the Channel. “At the moment it’s likely to be predominantly UK races,” Coulson says, “along with Belgium, France and Italy.”These trips are not decorative; they are instrumental. Racing abroad is where young riders learn the lessons that British racing – with its shorter distances, rolling circuits and more contained pelotons – cannot teach.
The squad will be a year older, stronger, physically more prepared. “Hopefully, we’ll have more results,” Coulson adds. But again, results are a by-product of the deeper purpose rather than the measure of it.
The instability in the domestic scene has arguably sharpened. Several key teams have folded in the past two seasons. Sponsorship volatility remains endemic. Races face rising costs and uncertainty. The centre cannot always hold.
Coulson is weary of the narrative but accepts its truth. “It’s nothing new,” he says. “From the top of the sport down, teams face the same financial challenges, and this will not change. We can’t get away from the sponsorship model.” His response is not resignation, but perspective. “Whilst teams folding is obviously not a good thing, we should appreciate the work put in by those teams and the opportunities they’ve offered riders.”
In a sport that often mistakes noise for substance, this kind of realism feels almost radical.
So how has Cycling Sheffield endured where others have not?
Coulson gives no grand narrative, only a quietly revealing one. Stability has come from “fantastic partners… over the last 12 years.” From knowing the terrain. From pragmatically accepting the limits of the British system rather than fighting them. From constructing a team model that is not dependent on the winds of corporate sponsorship but grounded in Sheffield’s local ecosystem.
We previously described Cycling Sheffield’s approach as “breaking the mould.” In truth, Cycling Sheffield haven’t broken anything. They’ve simply chosen not to conform to a mould that rarely works.
As 2026 begins, the team enters the second year of its development project – not loudly, not with glossy unveilings or inflated expectations, but with a sense of purpose that feels stronger for its understatement. Six riders return. Two more join. The path continues.
Read the domestic team guide here.
Featured image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
Share this:
Discover more from The British Continental
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.