Jacob Bush

Hailing from the small town of Baston in Lincolnshire, England, Jacob is a fresh face to the team in 2024 as he makes the step up from the juniors to the Development program.

An active kid, Jacob was encouraged by his parents to do all kinds of sport and they were keen to support whatever it was, so he did sports such as triathlon, football, tennis, rugby, and skiing, with the latter his main sport. It’s also where he finds inspiration from his idol, Dave Ryding, who was arguably one of the best British alpine skiers of all-time; and it’s his hard-working attitude and rise to the top of the European and international ladder which impresses Jacob.

His skiing got to a point where it became hard to spend so much time on the snow, which in turn was expensive itself, so according to Jacob “lockdown happened at a good point” because it naturally made the decision for him, with the closure of the ski slopes in the UK. He had always done cycling to some extent, and particularly some downhill mountain biking, but from that point he went “all-in” on the road and has since rapidly progressed from there, taking some of those Alpine skills into his career on two-wheels.

“I think skiing has helped my cycling and bike-handling because you are more in tune with where your body parts and are and can move quickly. In slalom those gates come at you so fast that you just need to be able to reactive instinctively.”

Exuding a smile from his face, it is clear that Jacob has a passion for cycling and appreciates everything the bike can do for people from road bikers, to track riders, to commuters and everything in between.

“I think cycling as a whole is such a big part of the world, it’s really cool to be a racer.”

Motivation comes to Jacob in two ways, both from seeing the improvements in numbers and being able to look back over a longer period, but also, he admits that “winning is a cool feeling” and that’s what he “gets up for” in the morning.

Of course, the step up to the U23 category will be a big jump where Jacob goes from “being at the top in the juniors to being at the bottom in U23”, but he’s more than ready to face the challenge head on. Jacob believes he’s in exactly the right place to do that though with the team and is grateful for the opportunities that he gets to develop in a supportive environment.

“It’s important not to put too much pressure on the first year. If things don’t go well then you don’t look it as something bad, but instead something to learn and build on. That’s one of the reasons why I joined the team; because of their emphasis on the bigger picture.”

Describing himself as “energetic” and someone that “can’t sit down”, Jacob also applauds his own organisational skills and is someone that likes structure in his life. He jokes that he’s already had his struggles with current teammate Oliver [Peace]. Both were in their previous team together, and as they would often go to races or training camps together, while Jacob would have everything neatly organised, Oliver’s side of the room would be “complete chaos”.

Away from the bike, the “family orientated” Jacob enjoys spending time with his four younger brothers, who all go and do sports together. He also likes to spend time with his friends outside the cycling bubble “doing normal things” so that he can chill out and take his mind off the sport. Likewise, he often enjoys playing video games, and particularly Fortnite, with Oliver, who he says that he “hard carries”. Surprisingly, you also might hear him blasting out some British rap with grime one of his favourite subgenres with artists Jme and Skepta – so we’re expecting the Development program races to be awash with interesting music this year!