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British racing cyclist

Adam Blythe

Adam Blythe

Key facts

date of birthOctober 1, 1989
height175cm
occupationsport cyclist
place of birthSheffield
mass68 kg
All data from the card 24
Full name
Adam Michael Blythe
Nickname
Tyrone
Born
1 October 1989Sheffield, England
Height
1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight
68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)
Sport
Cycling
Current team
Retired
Disciplines
RoadTrack
Role
Rider
Rider type
SprinterPuncheur
?
Sheffield Phoenix
2007
ScienceinSport–Trek
2008
Pinarello
2008
Wielerclub Des Sprinters Malderen
2008
Team Konica Minolta–Bizhub
2009
DAVO
2009
Silence–Lotto (stagiaire)
2010–2011
Omega Pharma–Lotto
2012–2013
BMC Racing Team
2014
NFTO
2015
Orica–GreenEDGE
2016
Tinkoff
2017–2018
Aqua Blue Sport
2019
Lotto–Soudal

Adam Michael Blythe (born 1 October 1989) is an English former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2010 and 2019 for the BMC Racing Team, NFTO, Orica–GreenEDGE, Tinkoff, Aqua Blue Sport and Lotto–Soudal teams. Blythe began racing at a young age and went on to become a member of British Cycling's Olympic Development Programme.

Amateur career

Born in Sheffield, Blythe began cycling at a young age with the Sheffield Phoenix club. Cycling was a family activity, his sister Kimberley Blythe was also fairly successful as a young rider.

Blythe became Derbyshire's Junior Sportsman of the Year in the East Midlands Sports Personality of the Year Awards, 2005.

Blythe left British Cycling's Academy Programme by mutual consent in February 2008, and went to race in Belgium. He stayed with the ex-professional cyclist, Tim Harris, in Westmeerbeek, near Antwerp. Blythe was awarded a Cycling Time Trials scholarship to enable him to race on the continent and develop further. He raced for the Wielerclub Des Sprinters Malderen which is a feeder club for a professional team. He also received support from the Dave Rayner Fund during his time in Belgium.

Professional career

Blythe returned to Belgium to ride for the DAVO squad in 2009, under the tutelage of Kurt Van De Wouwer, a former professional. He had joined pro-tour team Silence–Lotto as a trainee in July 2009, it was announced on 7 September 2009 that he had signed a two-year contract with Silence-Lotto in the wake of a string of good results for the team.

In 2012, Blythe followed his teammate and close friend Philippe Gilbert to the BMC Racing Team. In October 2012, Blythe sprinted his way to victory in the semi-classic Binche–Tournai–Binche, popping out of his teammate's wheel on a cobbled sector with 700 metres (2,300 ft) to go, edging Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and John Degenkolb of Argos–Shimano.

In 2014, Blythe rode for the newly formed British NFTO team. After a very successful year competing on the British domestic scene, Blythe joined Australian team Orica–GreenEDGE for the 2015 season. After one season there in August 2015 it was announced that Blythe would be moving to Tinkoff for the 2016 season, where he would be reunited with directeur sportif Sean Yates, who worked with Blythe during his time with NFTO.

With Tinkoff folding at the end of 2016, Blythe joined the Aqua Blue Sport squad for its inaugural season in 2017. Following the announcement of Aqua Blue Sport's collapse, in September 2018 Blythe announced that he would return to Lotto–Soudal for the 2019 season, linking up with former Orica–GreenEDGE teammate Caleb Ewan as part of the latter's sprint train, with an additional role as a domestique for the team's classics squad.

In October 2019, Blythe announced that he would retire at the end of the season.

Post-racing career

Blythe is a pundit for Eurosport's coverage of cycling, having worked part-time in this role on the channel's coverage of the Grand Tours during his final professional season in 2019. He was also "on-site" reporter for NBC Sports' coverage of the 2020 Tour de France, and fulfilled that role again in 2021.

In November 2019, Blythe announced that he was taking up a role with David Millar's cycling clothing brand CHPT3 as a product marketing executive.

Personal life

He currently lives in Bollington, Cheshire, England.

Major results

Road

2006
3rd National Criterium Championships
2007
1st Overall Driedaagse van Axel
1st Sprints classification
1st Points classification
1st Combination classification
1st Stages 1 & 4
1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Juniores
6th Paris–Roubaix Juniors
2008
Tour of Hong Kong Shanghai
1st Stages 2 & 3b
2009
1st Circuit du Port de Dunkerque
1st Stage 7 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
2nd Grote 1-MeiPrijs
5th Antwerpse Havenpijl
2010 (4 pro wins)
1st Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
1st Points classification
1st Young rider classification
1st Stages 1 & 3
1st Nationale Sluitingsprijs
3rd Omloop van het Houtland
4th Grand Prix de Fourmies
4th Schaal Sels
2011
2nd Houtem–Vilvoorde
3rd Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem
4th Overall Ronde van Drenthe
1st Young rider classification
7th Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde
2012 (2)
1st Binche–Tournai–Binche
1st Stage 1 Paris–Corrèze
2nd Omloop van het Houtland
3rd Handzame Classic
4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
10th Overall Tour of Qatar
2013
4th Overall Tour of Qatar
1st Stage 2 (TTT)
2014 (1)
1st National Criterium Championships
1st RideLondon–Surrey Classic
1st Otley GP
1st Ipswich and Coastal GP
1st Circuit of the Fens
1st Jersey International Road Race
2nd Beverley GP
3rd Beaumont Trophy
6th Rutland–Melton International CiCLE Classic
2015
2nd Stafford GP
3rd Overall Tour de Korea
2016 (1)
1st Road race, National Championships
2017
2nd Nokere Koerse
2nd Handzame Classic
4th Ronde van Drenthe
2018 (1)
1st Elfstedenronde
2nd Road race, National Championships
5th Handzame Classic
7th Ronde van Limburg
9th Three Days of Bruges–De Panne

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Giro d'Italia DNF DNF — 166 — — — —
Tour de France Did not contest during his career
Vuelta a España — — — — — — — 155
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

Track

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Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source article