George Jary, 21

Eiser Hirumet, Durango, Spain

Back in Spain? Yes, for my third season. I feel like I have invested so much time into learning Spanish — which I’m pretty fluent in now — and also understanding the races, teams and riders that to change countries would be a needless risk. Different team? Last year’s team offered me another place, but racing for them involved a lot of travelling and staying over in Madrid, whereas my new team are based in the Basque Country. They have also put me up in their team house and let me stay there over the winter, which is a lot better than going home to London. Good winter’s training? It went to plan, there were no setbacks, and I feel really good. Where I live is right in the middle of all the main climbs in the U23 races so my training routes have been races that I will do, which is a massive advantage to have. How important is this year? Very. In the last two years, I can only think of five occasions when I have not been working for others, and this year I have been given the task of being one of the leaders. What’s your spring schedule? I have 10 races up until Easter and most of them are U23. I really want to focus on the Copa de España series. To count for the overall you have to race a lot of races, show consistency in them, and that’s my aim. Confident of success? My sprint doesn’t stand up against a sprinter and I’m not the best climber, but races here suit me. They’re usually pretty flat and there’s three climbs, with the last one 10km from the end. It’s about surviving the race and then it’s a battle between five to 10 riders.