A season that took him from Snowdonia’s clouded peaks to the neon bustle of Guizhou ended with Ed Morgan standing at an unexpected high point: topping The British Continental National Road Race Rankings in the year he feared might slip away from him. Now, after crashes, comebacks and a domestic scene pulling at the seams, he heads to France in search of the opportunity Britain can no longer promise.
The off season not only offers riders the chance to rest, reset, and reflect, but time to explore their other passions; Ed Morgan having done so in the days leading up to his interview with The British Continental. “I just like getting out and hiking,” he reveals, the Welshman unable to reach the peak of Snowdon on this occasion, the November gloom proving too much of an obstacle.
“It was, how do I say it? Miserable.” He laughs, wind stopping play during his plan B of climbing Cadair Idris two-thirds of the way up. With the clocks having gone back an hour and the winter firmly setting in, it was perhaps not the ideal time for such a trek, but Morgan’s season on the bike had only just reached its climax, injuries sustained from a crash in June’s National Road Championship road race extending his campaign deep into October.
Everyone was going into the off season as I was just starting to find some legs, and I looked, but there was no racing
“Everyone was going into the off season as I was just starting to find some legs, and I looked, but there was no racing,” he explains, having made his return at the National Road Series finale, the Wentworth Woodhouse Grand Prix, on the final day of August. Morgan’s search for competition would see him first compete in the Tour of Kosovo with MyPad Racing, before a season-ending trip to China for the Tour of Guizhou Eco-Province.
“It was an experience,” he declares, having jumped at the chance to go when asked by Elijah [Kwon] from Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT. “I would never go on holiday to China, I’d just never think to go there,” he reflects, the race bringing a number of new experiences, both on and off the bike.
“We thought everything was amazing. We got to the airport where we landed and the organisation were there waiting for us, they got us on a bus and took us to the hotel. I’d never seen a race this well organised,” he notes, describing a scene as far away from a village hall car park as possible. “But we were talking to one of the Aussie teams and their DS said it was diabolical that the bus was half an hour late. We’ve got a bus, we haven’t got to make our own way, I’m not complaining. I’d wait three hours in the pissing rain!” he laughs.
Morgan in the break. Image: Tour of Guizhou
On the road, Morgan came close to winning the fifth stage of the race, finishing second in a three-up sprint after a day spent, for some time alone, in the breakaway. “It was really cool, you get to race against new riders,” he notes, evaluating his opposition on a rolling basis. “I was in the break for 130km, went solo for a bit, then got caught by a whole new group of riders. I didn’t know any of them and guessed they were all fresher than me, and in my head, coming into the finish, I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to play this.”
Not convinced he’d have enough left in the tank for a long-range attack, Morgan prepared himself for a sprint. “I knew I was beating one guy who had no kick at all, so it was second or first. I went long, tried to catch him by surprise. Lo and behold it didn’t work, and he came past me with 50 metres to go.”
The race added to Morgan’s growing international experience, with the field assembled one of the strongest outside of a UCI race; the Welshman already having finished in the top five of .2-ranked events on multiple occasions this season in search of a standout result.
“I beat myself up every time I think about it,” he says, reflecting on one such occasion, his fourth place finish at the CiCLE Classic coming in a race he believes professional teams hold in high esteem.
Ben Granger came up to me and told me ‘you’re looking really strong, play your cards right’, and I think that actually got in my head
Capitalising on his fine early season form, the Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck rider made a select group that would contest the final stages of the 177km course. “I knew I had good legs – Ben Granger came up to me while Tom Martin was still up the road, and told me ‘you’re looking really strong, play your cards right’, and I think that actually got in my head.
“All the time I think I could have been on the podium,” he says, realistically. “I’d love to win a big UCI one day, but I don’t think I was beating someone like Ben, and if it came down to a sprint obviously I was third best in that group – Dylan [Hicks] and [Mathis Adondts] are fast sprinters, so there’s no chance of beating them.”
Morgan at the 2025 Ronde van Wymeswold. Image: Gary Main
Now 25, Morgan has been in the sport long enough to know the value of results in such races, his journey unique. Starting cycling at the relatively late age of 15, he spent two years with the Wales Racing Academy in 2022 and 2023, while joining Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck in 2025 provided a refocusing of his goals: one last shot at a career in the sport.
I’ve always said I’d give myself the opportunity. If I don’t make it at least I can look back in 20 years and say I had a go
“Since Covid, I’ve always said I’d give myself the opportunity. If I don’t make it at least I can look back in 20 years and say I had a go,” he explains, this season a shift from a 2024 spent not only riding in the distinctive green and gold of Spectra Racing, but completing his training to qualify as a chemistry teacher.
“I started to really hate turning up to races,” he admits, looking back on a year when a busy schedule took a toll on his training. “When I was on Wales [Racing Academy] I was working a part-time job, and doing that I was starting to find my legs a bit more in the UK scene, and then with Spectra anything above three hours was rubbish. I would be fine in a Nat B, but we’d get to a National A and I’d have no legs anymore.”
Wanting to give himself the best opportunity to realise his potential, Morgan declared his cycling would be “more serious” this season, his decision not to take a teaching job paying dividends almost immediately, overcoming a knee injury to finish third in the season-opening Portsdown Classic.
“I still work part time at the university and I do some coaching through my own set-up, and that’s my income to keep me going, and other than that it’s all in cycling,” he declares, National B wins in the South and South West Regional Championships and the Ronde van Wymeswold standout results in a first half of the season where he rarely finished outside the top 5, earning him a commanding lead in TheBritish Continental National Road Race Rankings.
Morgan (centre) after winning the 2025 Ronde van Wymeswold. Image: Gary Main
“After CiCLE I got unwell, and then I really struggled at Lincoln, and then Gralloch the week after,” the Welshman explains, drawing attention, surprisingly, not to his success, but to concerns around his form as the summer loomed. “I wondered if I’d somehow be this guy who had a really good start to the season, then fades and has a really rubbish rest of the year.
“It seems I had some sort of illness,” he continues, changing tone. “On a trip to [race in] France I just got better each day, and coming into June I was starting to feel good. I went to the Welsh champs, got some confidence, Wymeswold got some confidence, Tour of the Reservoir got some confidence until I cramped with like 2k to go!” he explains, almost dismissing a very credible fifth place in one of the toughest ever races to have taken place on UK soil because of his failure to complete a 1-2-3 for his team.
It did, however, demonstrate his form going into the National Road Championship road race a week later, a race which could be a career-defining one.
“It’s the one race of the year we get to race the big dogs, and it’s like this is cool!” He beams. “The race hadn’t even properly started, we’d gone hard up the big climb once and it split. Me and [teammate] Alex [Beldon] were in the front group with only 35 riders left.
“On the descent, I was chatting to Alex and he was like how do you feel? I feel so good, how do you feel? Yeah, I feel so good. I was feeling this could be a good day,” he reiterates, emphasising, for a rider who remains steadfastly reserved when discussing his achievements, just how many diamonds were in his legs that day.
“But, yeah, then the crash happened,” he states, distantly. In a split second Morgan’s race, like so many others, was over; their collective seasons also called into question as they waited for medical assistance.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do whilst I was having my time off the bike. For a bit I was like do I pack it in?
“Since then I’ve tried to forget about it really, you can always think what could have been,” he reflects. “I’m not saying I was up for a result that day because I was on the floor instead – I could have been dropped with 30km to go and DNF’d, or I could have had a really good ride and finished inside the top ten like Alex for example. I don’t dwell on it because I’m really happy for Alex, but on a personal note the confidence was growing and it obviously took a huge dip. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do whilst I was having my time off the bike. For a bit I was like do I pack it in? I’ve broken my collarbone enough times, I thought I might as well keep going, what’s the worst that can happen, break it again?! I’ll have another stab, see if I get some more results and keep growing, see what happens.”
Morgan (far left, front) with his Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck team at the 2025 Ronde van Wymeswold. Image: Gary Main
Morgan’s fine start to the season was aided by his surroundings, the Welshman a key member of an all-conquering Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck squad that exceeded almost all expectations – Morgan leading a 1-2-3 for the squad in TheBritish Continental’s National Road Race Rankings with the team award, unsurprisingly, heading their way.
“I think the reputation we, Muc-Off, have, is because we had Phill [Maddocks as a DS], and Adam [Ellis], who runs the team,” he explains, the duo offering not only opportunities to race at home and abroad, but doing so in a professional environment, despite the team running on a very limited budget.
“He’s very regimented,” he says of retired firefighter Ellis, his methods something of a culture shock at first for Morgan. “You can ask him about this, but the one thing I struggled with was having so much organisation. Say if there’s a race at 2pm, and we’re getting there at 12.30, I’ll be ten minutes late and not really worry. But with Adam he’s like, ‘guys, we’re doing this at this time’. And he’s shown it works. There was never a stress, never a panic because we had time.”
Every single rider fully committed and invested into it, that was one of the biggest things
Speaking days before the announcement that the team would fold after five seasons, Morgan paints a picture of a team that not only ran like clockwork, but were united in their goal, each individual happy to not only race abroad at every opportunity, but use accumulated prize money, as well as their own funds, to make it happen.
“Every single rider fully committed and invested into it, that was one of the biggest things,” he emphasises. “Sometimes you have a team with the right mindset and the management wants to do the right things, but if you don’t have every single member of the team, whether that’s staff or riders, fully committed, that’s when you struggle.
“We obviously had help from Phill and Adam, but then Jake [Jackson’s] dad, Chalkie, he was like an extra staff member. He wants to support his son, but also other young bike riders, and that’s such a nice thing – it made turning up to races a pleasure. It wasn’t like oh shit I’ve got to go and spend a few days with these guys, we’d catch up after a few weeks, spend time with each other, I was like this is the best thing ever.”
Morgan is keen to point out how grateful he is for the opportunities the domestic scene has given him, and other riders, particularly as he heads to race in France full time next season, joining the DN3 Club Cycliste Villeneuve Saint Germain Soissons Aisne team, or CCVSA for short.
“The UK scene is having a pretty shit time, and I think everyone knows that. But it’s going to get better, it ebbs and flows all the time, it’s just when will it pick up?” he says, optimistically.
Morgan (centre) at the 2025 Ronde van Wymeswold. Image: Gary Main
“[It’s] being held together by a small group of very hardworking people. People think because it’s a grassroots sport, there’s no work going on really because it’s all amateur, but you just look at the Riders Collective GP at Leicester organised by Max Sillifant. That’s what grassroots sport is, people that fully care about it, and that’s the only reason any of us are getting opportunities.”
I wanted to stay in the UK, but it’s quite turbulent, the whole scene. Teams are struggling, which is a shame, and I don’t want to hang around and miss my only opportunity
Morgan heads to France not only with ambition, but a heavy heart as he reflects on a move that is, currently, the only way to make cycling a career for a British rider. “I wanted to stay in the UK, but it’s quite turbulent, the whole scene. Teams are struggling, which is a shame, and I don’t want to hang around and miss my only opportunity as I get older,” he explains, delving deeper into his options. “Yes, France is still amateur. And I won’t necessarily race a comprehensive UCI calendar. But it’s the next step that isn’t a leap of faith,” he reasons, conversations with a number of UCI teams ending in similar fashion to those Frankie Hall referenced in her interview with The British Continental.
“I always thought everyone used the age thing as an excuse, but I fully agree with it now. I don’t have the WorldTour numbers, but I understand the opportunities are a lot harder to come by once you get out of the U23 ranks.
“You can go to a ‘pay to ride’ style Continental team, but some of your races might be like the Tour of Kosovo. I know I was on the podium, and nothing against the competition there, but if you go on [ProCyclingStats], the quality of the field was the lowest it could be. You can’t compare that to Kreiz Breizh Elites for example, it’s so very different. I’d want to be riding the .1 and .2s that are well respected, which the bigger teams seem to value more. Maybe with going to France it will take an extra year of progress, but that’s the better pathway for me.”
Having opened doors with his consistent performances this year, 2026 is set to be Morgan’s most important season yet: a career on the line as he attempts one last shot at making a living on the open roads as opposed to inside a classroom, an opportunity he could not turn down. Having put everything into conquering Britain in 2025, a French odyssey awaits in 2026, and possibly beyond.
The off season not only offers riders the chance to rest, reset, and reflect, but time to explore their other passions; Ed Morgan having done so in the days leading up to his interview with The British Continental. “I just like getting out and hiking,” he reveals, the Welshman unable to reach the peak of Snowdon on this occasion, the November gloom proving too much of an obstacle.
“It was, how do I say it? Miserable.” He laughs, wind stopping play during his plan B of climbing Cadair Idris two-thirds of the way up. With the clocks having gone back an hour and the winter firmly setting in, it was perhaps not the ideal time for such a trek, but Morgan’s season on the bike had only just reached its climax, injuries sustained from a crash in June’s National Road Championship road race extending his campaign deep into October.
“Everyone was going into the off season as I was just starting to find some legs, and I looked, but there was no racing,” he explains, having made his return at the National Road Series finale, the Wentworth Woodhouse Grand Prix, on the final day of August. Morgan’s search for competition would see him first compete in the Tour of Kosovo with MyPad Racing, before a season-ending trip to China for the Tour of Guizhou Eco-Province.
“It was an experience,” he declares, having jumped at the chance to go when asked by Elijah [Kwon] from Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT. “I would never go on holiday to China, I’d just never think to go there,” he reflects, the race bringing a number of new experiences, both on and off the bike.
“We thought everything was amazing. We got to the airport where we landed and the organisation were there waiting for us, they got us on a bus and took us to the hotel. I’d never seen a race this well organised,” he notes, describing a scene as far away from a village hall car park as possible. “But we were talking to one of the Aussie teams and their DS said it was diabolical that the bus was half an hour late. We’ve got a bus, we haven’t got to make our own way, I’m not complaining. I’d wait three hours in the pissing rain!” he laughs.
On the road, Morgan came close to winning the fifth stage of the race, finishing second in a three-up sprint after a day spent, for some time alone, in the breakaway. “It was really cool, you get to race against new riders,” he notes, evaluating his opposition on a rolling basis. “I was in the break for 130km, went solo for a bit, then got caught by a whole new group of riders. I didn’t know any of them and guessed they were all fresher than me, and in my head, coming into the finish, I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to play this.”
Not convinced he’d have enough left in the tank for a long-range attack, Morgan prepared himself for a sprint. “I knew I was beating one guy who had no kick at all, so it was second or first. I went long, tried to catch him by surprise. Lo and behold it didn’t work, and he came past me with 50 metres to go.”
The race added to Morgan’s growing international experience, with the field assembled one of the strongest outside of a UCI race; the Welshman already having finished in the top five of .2-ranked events on multiple occasions this season in search of a standout result.
“I beat myself up every time I think about it,” he says, reflecting on one such occasion, his fourth place finish at the CiCLE Classic coming in a race he believes professional teams hold in high esteem.
Capitalising on his fine early season form, the Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck rider made a select group that would contest the final stages of the 177km course. “I knew I had good legs – Ben Granger came up to me while Tom Martin was still up the road, and told me ‘you’re looking really strong, play your cards right’, and I think that actually got in my head.
“All the time I think I could have been on the podium,” he says, realistically. “I’d love to win a big UCI one day, but I don’t think I was beating someone like Ben, and if it came down to a sprint obviously I was third best in that group – Dylan [Hicks] and [Mathis Adondts] are fast sprinters, so there’s no chance of beating them.”
Now 25, Morgan has been in the sport long enough to know the value of results in such races, his journey unique. Starting cycling at the relatively late age of 15, he spent two years with the Wales Racing Academy in 2022 and 2023, while joining Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck in 2025 provided a refocusing of his goals: one last shot at a career in the sport.
“Since Covid, I’ve always said I’d give myself the opportunity. If I don’t make it at least I can look back in 20 years and say I had a go,” he explains, this season a shift from a 2024 spent not only riding in the distinctive green and gold of Spectra Racing, but completing his training to qualify as a chemistry teacher.
“I started to really hate turning up to races,” he admits, looking back on a year when a busy schedule took a toll on his training. “When I was on Wales [Racing Academy] I was working a part-time job, and doing that I was starting to find my legs a bit more in the UK scene, and then with Spectra anything above three hours was rubbish. I would be fine in a Nat B, but we’d get to a National A and I’d have no legs anymore.”
Wanting to give himself the best opportunity to realise his potential, Morgan declared his cycling would be “more serious” this season, his decision not to take a teaching job paying dividends almost immediately, overcoming a knee injury to finish third in the season-opening Portsdown Classic.
“I still work part time at the university and I do some coaching through my own set-up, and that’s my income to keep me going, and other than that it’s all in cycling,” he declares, National B wins in the South and South West Regional Championships and the Ronde van Wymeswold standout results in a first half of the season where he rarely finished outside the top 5, earning him a commanding lead in The British Continental National Road Race Rankings.
“After CiCLE I got unwell, and then I really struggled at Lincoln, and then Gralloch the week after,” the Welshman explains, drawing attention, surprisingly, not to his success, but to concerns around his form as the summer loomed. “I wondered if I’d somehow be this guy who had a really good start to the season, then fades and has a really rubbish rest of the year.
“It seems I had some sort of illness,” he continues, changing tone. “On a trip to [race in] France I just got better each day, and coming into June I was starting to feel good. I went to the Welsh champs, got some confidence, Wymeswold got some confidence, Tour of the Reservoir got some confidence until I cramped with like 2k to go!” he explains, almost dismissing a very credible fifth place in one of the toughest ever races to have taken place on UK soil because of his failure to complete a 1-2-3 for his team.
It did, however, demonstrate his form going into the National Road Championship road race a week later, a race which could be a career-defining one.
“It’s the one race of the year we get to race the big dogs, and it’s like this is cool!” He beams. “The race hadn’t even properly started, we’d gone hard up the big climb once and it split. Me and [teammate] Alex [Beldon] were in the front group with only 35 riders left.
“On the descent, I was chatting to Alex and he was like how do you feel? I feel so good, how do you feel? Yeah, I feel so good. I was feeling this could be a good day,” he reiterates, emphasising, for a rider who remains steadfastly reserved when discussing his achievements, just how many diamonds were in his legs that day.
“But, yeah, then the crash happened,” he states, distantly. In a split second Morgan’s race, like so many others, was over; their collective seasons also called into question as they waited for medical assistance.
“Since then I’ve tried to forget about it really, you can always think what could have been,” he reflects. “I’m not saying I was up for a result that day because I was on the floor instead – I could have been dropped with 30km to go and DNF’d, or I could have had a really good ride and finished inside the top ten like Alex for example. I don’t dwell on it because I’m really happy for Alex, but on a personal note the confidence was growing and it obviously took a huge dip. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do whilst I was having my time off the bike. For a bit I was like do I pack it in? I’ve broken my collarbone enough times, I thought I might as well keep going, what’s the worst that can happen, break it again?! I’ll have another stab, see if I get some more results and keep growing, see what happens.”
Morgan’s fine start to the season was aided by his surroundings, the Welshman a key member of an all-conquering Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck squad that exceeded almost all expectations – Morgan leading a 1-2-3 for the squad in The British Continental’s National Road Race Rankings with the team award, unsurprisingly, heading their way.
“I think the reputation we, Muc-Off, have, is because we had Phill [Maddocks as a DS], and Adam [Ellis], who runs the team,” he explains, the duo offering not only opportunities to race at home and abroad, but doing so in a professional environment, despite the team running on a very limited budget.
“He’s very regimented,” he says of retired firefighter Ellis, his methods something of a culture shock at first for Morgan. “You can ask him about this, but the one thing I struggled with was having so much organisation. Say if there’s a race at 2pm, and we’re getting there at 12.30, I’ll be ten minutes late and not really worry. But with Adam he’s like, ‘guys, we’re doing this at this time’. And he’s shown it works. There was never a stress, never a panic because we had time.”
Speaking days before the announcement that the team would fold after five seasons, Morgan paints a picture of a team that not only ran like clockwork, but were united in their goal, each individual happy to not only race abroad at every opportunity, but use accumulated prize money, as well as their own funds, to make it happen.
“Every single rider fully committed and invested into it, that was one of the biggest things,” he emphasises. “Sometimes you have a team with the right mindset and the management wants to do the right things, but if you don’t have every single member of the team, whether that’s staff or riders, fully committed, that’s when you struggle.
“We obviously had help from Phill and Adam, but then Jake [Jackson’s] dad, Chalkie, he was like an extra staff member. He wants to support his son, but also other young bike riders, and that’s such a nice thing – it made turning up to races a pleasure. It wasn’t like oh shit I’ve got to go and spend a few days with these guys, we’d catch up after a few weeks, spend time with each other, I was like this is the best thing ever.”
Morgan is keen to point out how grateful he is for the opportunities the domestic scene has given him, and other riders, particularly as he heads to race in France full time next season, joining the DN3 Club Cycliste Villeneuve Saint Germain Soissons Aisne team, or CCVSA for short.
“The UK scene is having a pretty shit time, and I think everyone knows that. But it’s going to get better, it ebbs and flows all the time, it’s just when will it pick up?” he says, optimistically.
“[It’s] being held together by a small group of very hardworking people. People think because it’s a grassroots sport, there’s no work going on really because it’s all amateur, but you just look at the Riders Collective GP at Leicester organised by Max Sillifant. That’s what grassroots sport is, people that fully care about it, and that’s the only reason any of us are getting opportunities.”
Morgan heads to France not only with ambition, but a heavy heart as he reflects on a move that is, currently, the only way to make cycling a career for a British rider. “I wanted to stay in the UK, but it’s quite turbulent, the whole scene. Teams are struggling, which is a shame, and I don’t want to hang around and miss my only opportunity as I get older,” he explains, delving deeper into his options. “Yes, France is still amateur. And I won’t necessarily race a comprehensive UCI calendar. But it’s the next step that isn’t a leap of faith,” he reasons, conversations with a number of UCI teams ending in similar fashion to those Frankie Hall referenced in her interview with The British Continental.
“I always thought everyone used the age thing as an excuse, but I fully agree with it now. I don’t have the WorldTour numbers, but I understand the opportunities are a lot harder to come by once you get out of the U23 ranks.
“You can go to a ‘pay to ride’ style Continental team, but some of your races might be like the Tour of Kosovo. I know I was on the podium, and nothing against the competition there, but if you go on [ProCyclingStats], the quality of the field was the lowest it could be. You can’t compare that to Kreiz Breizh Elites for example, it’s so very different. I’d want to be riding the .1 and .2s that are well respected, which the bigger teams seem to value more. Maybe with going to France it will take an extra year of progress, but that’s the better pathway for me.”
Having opened doors with his consistent performances this year, 2026 is set to be Morgan’s most important season yet: a career on the line as he attempts one last shot at making a living on the open roads as opposed to inside a classroom, an opportunity he could not turn down. Having put everything into conquering Britain in 2025, a French odyssey awaits in 2026, and possibly beyond.
Featured image: Gary Main
Share this:
Discover more from The British Continental
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.