Finlay Tarling


Finlay Tarling is a Welsh track and road cyclist who rides for UCI Continental team. He is the younger brother of Welsh track and road cyclist Josh Tarling.
In 2023 he won silver medals in the team pursuit at the Junior European Track Championships, and in the Junior Chrono des Nations. In 2024 he won a gold medal with Team Wales in the team pursuit at the 2024 British Cycling National Track Championships, a silver medal in the British national junior time trial championship, and bronze medals in the junior team pursuit at the 2024 UEC European Track Championships and in each of the men's points race, the men's Madison relay race, and the team pursuit at the 2024 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships.

Cycling career

Beginnings

In June 2019, at 12 years of age, Tarling won the Hammer Series event in Sittard, in the Netherlands, at the Tom Dumoulin Bike Park against 80 riders, all 12 or 13 years of age. At the 2019 Welsh Cyclo-cross Championships at the Gilwern Outdoor Education Centre in December, Tarling won the under-14 boys.
In September 2020, he won the RTTC 13-year-old 25-mile time trial national championship, riding for WORX Factory Racing Powered by Silverstone. In July 2021, Tarling won the silver medal in the British National Circuit Time Trial Championships held in Naseby, Northamptonshire.
In 2022, Tarling joined elder brother Joshua on the Belgian FlandersColor cycling team. He won his first five races in a row, including the Welsh Cyclocross Championships at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Wales, where he won the U16 race to become Welsh Champion.

Junior career

In July 2023, he won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the Junior European Track Championships in Anadia, Portugal. He rode that year for Dutch team Willebrord Wil Vooruit. In October 2023 he finished runner-up in the 27.23-kilometer Junior Chrono des Nations in Les Herbiers, Vendée, France, finishing one second behind the champion. He said: "Time trials have to be my favorite discipline, but I also like to attack."
With Team Wales he won a gold medal in the team pursuit at the 2024 British Cycling National Track Championships at the Manchester Velodrome in Manchester in February 2024. In June 2024, he was runner-up in the 30-kilometer British national junior time trial championship, and won a bronze medal in the 121-kilometer British national junior time road race.
He won a bronze medal in the junior team pursuit at the 2024 UEC European Track Championships at the Lausitz Velodrome in Cottbus, Germany, in July 2024. He set a record in the Ross-On-Wye & Dist CC 25-mile time trial at Monmouth, Wales, in July 2024, against 77 competitors.
He won bronze medals in each of the men's points race, the men's Madison relay race, and the team pursuit at the 2024 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Luoyang, China, in August 2024. He was sick with an upset stomach for the Road World Junior Championship time trial in Zurich, Switzerland, in September 2024, and placed 24th overall out of 66 riders.

Israel Premier Tech Academy (2025–present)

He signed a two-year contract to ride for Sylvan Adams's from the 2025 season. Academy Manager Tim Elverson said: “Time trialling is his passion; it’s also an area in which the team is really keen to improve. He’s also got an eye on Classics racing, and that’s a big area in which we can work together.” Tarling said: "I think as it’s my first year the races that I could best fit into would be the classic-type races.... I also think with TT background that I have that it could be used for shorter stage races with TTs to carry a possible GC contention."

Personal life

Tarling is from Ffos-y-ffin, Ceredigion, west Wales. He is the younger brother of Olympic track and road cyclist Josh Tarling, and his father is Michael Tarling. His father is a keen cyclist who used to race at Newport Velodrome. In 2012, Tarling's parents started the West Wales Cycle Racing Team, in part to address the lack of cycling clubs in the area.

Major results

;2023
;2024