Year 12 Jamie: Celebrating Excellence in Cycling

My name is Jamie Rabbett, and cycling has been my passion from a very young age. My interest in the sport first began after watching the 2012 BMX events at the Olympic Games. Seeing the speed, skill and excitement of BMX racing inspired me, and a few weeks later my parents found a North West BMX track, Mid Lancs BMX Club, where my cycling journey began.

I started out simply riding BMX for fun on a Saturday morning, but it did not take long before I wanted to race. I progressed from club racing to regional racing events, and then onto the national stage. Over those years I became a three‑time National Champion, riding my bike in many different countries, including Australia when visiting family, and across Europe. This was a proud achievement and showed me what I could accomplish through hard work and dedication.

My BMX journey also took me onto the international racing stage. In 2018 I travelled to Baku, Azerbaijan, for my first World Championships, where I finished 15th. The following year I competed in Zolder, Belgium, and made my way through the heats, qualifying for the Final and finishing ranked as World No. 8 out of more than 150 of the world’s best BMX riders. To be ranked 8th in the world for my age group was one of the biggest moments of my early sporting career. I also raced European Cup events in the Male 9 category, gaining valuable experience competing against top international riders.

When Covid arrived and BMX tracks were closed, everything changed. On my 11th birthday I got my first road bike, and during the summer of 2020 I started riding on the roads more and more. I quickly fell in love with the freedom that road cycling gave me – the long rides, the independence, and the challenge of pushing myself further each day. That was when a new dream was born.

After restrictions eased, I also started track cycling and attended my first velodrome session in Manchester. I became accredited and began racing both road and track as a youth rider, travelling around the UK to compete in national events. In my second year as an Under‑14 rider, I finished 4th at the National Championships. That was a huge turning point, proving to myself that I could compete at a high level in a different cycling discipline and that cycling could become something much bigger for me, and my dreams began to grow.

My first year as an Under‑16 rider brought setbacks when I broke my collarbone over winter in a training accident, forcing time away from racing and disrupting my preparation. I focused on maintaining my fitness and training on my home trainer for the new season. However, as the year went on, I came back stronger, producing good rides against older riders in the National Series and securing a top‑10 finish at the National Championships.

Following that successful season, I was approached by British Cycling to join their National Talent Programme. Being selected, and receiving GB cycling kit to train and race in, was an incredibly proud moment for me and another major step forward. However, the following season was difficult. Illness slowed my start to the year, results were not coming, and despite months of hard work and sacrifice, things were not clicking. My dreams of international road racing also didn’t align with the talent pathway’s focus on training and racing on the velodrome. After a lot of thought, I made the difficult decision to step away from the pathway and return to my former coach, Will Thompson.

That fresh start made an immediate difference. I came back stronger in the second half of the season, returning with top‑five results in national races and taking victory at the Colne Town Centre National Criterium in front of huge crowds. It was another reminder of what I was capable of when my training and focus were right.

I ended my youth career strongly with a top‑10 finish at the National Championships in South Wales, and a sub‑20‑minute 10‑mile time trial on the Levens course, riding 19 minutes 46 seconds at an average speed of 30.2mph for 10 miles. I also finished the North West Youth Tour in Lancaster – one of my main goals of the year – with 4th in the time trial at Morecambe Promenade, a top‑10 on the Quernmore hill stage around Grab Lane and Daisy Bank climb, and another top‑10 place in the sprint after fighting back from a mechanical issue on the Lancaster University circuit race.

As my youth career came to an end, I was speaking with junior men’s teams about the next step. Thanks to my strong finish to the season, I secured a place with Shibden Apex Race Team, a Yorkshire‑based junior team with a European race calendar. This was an important move, giving me the opportunity to race internationally in UCI races and continue progressing towards professional level.

Now the focus has shifted fully onto the start of my junior career. This is no longer just a hobby – this is my job and my dream. Winter preparation meant endless miles in harsh northern weather, making sacrifices with social time and family gatherings, living the routine of training, eat, sleep, repeat. But every sacrifice is worth it in pursuit of becoming a professional cyclist.

Training camps with my new team through winter helped me learn from older riders and gain more experience switching from one‑hour youth races to racing 120km stage races over three hours, including a week training in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain, finalising my preparation for the 2026 season.

My first races as a junior came in Belgium, where I finished 8th in Staden and 7th in Vlamertinge – two very fast, aggressive kermesse races and a strong start to my international junior career. In March I raced the Junior CiCLE Classic, one of the UK’s most prestigious junior races, finishing 11th out of around 100 riders on a brutal course featuring cobbled sectors and technical roads.

I have recently returned from my first UCI international stage race in Brittany, France. It was an incredibly full‑on weekend, with my team travelling down to Portsmouth to take the ferry to St Malo.

Day 1 – A 111km road race with around 1,500m of climbing.

I was feeling great and made the breakaway at around the 50km mark, picking up some KOM (King of the Mountains) points, which put me 6th overall. Unfortunately, a big pile‑up in the last 20km left me battered and bruised, and I had to run back to the team car to get my spare bike after damaging the one I was riding. I made it to the finish, but by then I was around 6 minutes 30 seconds down on the classification.

We had a team debrief that evening, and the plan changed. Provided I was fit to ride the following day, my role would be to support our riders who were high up on the classification, and if I felt good, I could try to get in the breakaway again due to my position in the mountains points.

Day 2 – Morning Time Trial (Plouzané):

We were unsure whether I would start because of the pain and swelling in my leg and hip, but I rode and produced a decent time considering the pain and limited range of movement.

Afternoon Stage: 

125km with 1,600m of climbing. It was another extremely challenging course, made even harder by the injury I had sustained. I didn’t feel great throughout the race and focused purely on doing my best for the team and getting round. Thankfully, I managed to finish – it became a mental battle as my body simply wasn’t cooperating. We averaged 26mph (48km/h) for that stage.

Overall, as a team we performed brilliantly, with three riders finishing in the top 20 overall out of 180 riders – a fantastic start to the season.

Thankfully, I now have some downtime to recover from the injuries, which turned out to be caused by a bad infection in my leg. I will then head back out to the south of France in a couple of weeks for my second race there this year.