Scott Thwaites joins Vitus Pro Cycling Team

Scott Thwaites has joined Vitus Pro Cycling Team, powered by Brother UK, completing a significantly strengthened line-up for Cherie Pridham’s team as the start of the 2019 season draws closer. 

Thwaites, 28, joins Pridham’s team from the UCI WorldTour squad Team Dimension Data, for whom he competed in some of professional cycling’s most prestigious races, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo. 

The Yorkshireman first raced for Pridham in 2006, and has since built a reputation as a consummate professional, able to ride at the sharp end in the Spring Classics, and to protect his team leader for the entirety of a Grand Tour. His skills in domestic racing have previously made him British Criterium champion and overall winner of the Premier Calendar. 

“I’m delighted to welcome Scott to Vitus Pro Cycling Team, powered by Brother UK. Strength-in-depth is the defining characteristic of our 2019 squad and Scott embodies the unwavering standards demanded of a top professional,” Pridham said.

“It was a pleasure to work with Scott when he was still an emerging talent with obvious potential, and now he has completed nine years as a professional, it’s very satisfying to be working with him again. A rider strong enough to finish two Grand Tours and nine Classics can only be a significant addition to our squad.”

Thwaites first came to prominence in 2009, when he won the British U23 mountain bike title. After honing his road skills with Pridham, he joined Endura Racing in 2010, for whom he won the Lincoln GP in 2011 and the British Criterium title in 2012. 

When Endura Racing merged with Team NetApp to create the Team NetApp-Endura squad in 2013, Thwaites graduated to the Pro Continental ranks, and after four years with Ralph Denk’s team, joined Team Dimension Data in 2017. 

Thwaites said he was pleased to be working again with Pridham, who had provided guidance and instruction in the early stages of his career. The Yorkshireman is likely to be an inspiring influence on her team’s younger riders. While the UK calendar demands a different style of racing to the UCI WorldTour, Thwaites said he was confident of adapting quickly to his new environment.

Vitus Pro Cycling Team, powered by Brother UK has made a number of key signings in the closed season, including triple Olympic champion Ed Clancy, and Graham Briggs, who, like Thwaites, is a former British criterium champion. 

Additionally, Pridham has retained two of her brightest young talents in Liam Davies and Tim Torrie, while recruiting rising star Red Walters alongside a host of established talents, including Commonwealth Games medalist Chris Latham and British Cycling Academy graduates Joe Holt and Ali Slater. 

The team will begin its 2019 campaign at the Eddie Soens Classic on Saturday March 9. With events being added to the team’s calendar continually, Pridham is assembling a race programme that supports her ambition of making Vitus Pro Cycling Team, powered by Brother UK the most successful UCI Continental team in Britain.