Talented British cyclist Matthew Gibson has been signed by Human Powered Health for the remainder of the 2022 season and will race today at the Ronde van Limburg. The 25-year-old from Cheshire, England signs from the British WiV SunGod continental team and is the first rider on the program from the UK.
A powerful sprinter and opportunist, Gibson showcased the talents he can bring to the team at ProTour level during last year’s Tour of Britain, where he finished third on stage 7 behind two WorldTour riders.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to show what I can do at this level,” Gibson said, speaking from Belgium. “The chances you get to ride big races on a continental team are limited, so at a ProTour team I can race a lot more races like the Tour of Britain so there are a lot more opportunities to prove myself in those sorts of scenarios,” he added.
View this post on Instagram
Gibson has been at this level before, having raced for Burgos-BH between 2019 and 2020, but a number of factors – including COVID – hampered his chances. He is keen to grab the opportunity with both hands.
“This time I can do things in a way that I want to do it.”
Having got his racing education through the British Olympic track cycling program as a junior and then the under-23 academy, Gibson has experience beyond his years and motivation to match.
“I’m quite intrinsically motivated,” he says.” “I’m motivated when it comes to performing the process so if there’s something I want to do I will make sure I will go out there and do it.”
Gibson is known in the UK as one of the country’s best criterium racers of the past decade, and he won the national championships in the discipline in 2018. He also won multiple rounds of the country’s biggest crit series, the Tour Series.
“Crits mirror the last hour or so of a road race and I would say that the rider that I am, I can do the same sort of performance at the end of a race as I can do during a criterium,” Gibson says. “Whether that be the cornering ability, the positioning or the repeated accelerations, I think that sort of racing helps me to be on top of my game in terms of those explosive efforts.”
These explosive efforts will be key for the team as he will slot in naturally with the sprint squad.
Jonas Carney – Human Powered Health performance manager
“Matt and I were in touch last year and we were close to signing him for 2022, but it just didn’t work out. We’ve been staying in touch this year and with an opportunity to add a new rider mid-season it was a no-brainer to see if Matt would be available.”
“Matt’s a fast finisher with experience. He should fit in well with our group of sprinters and leadout guys. The Ronde van Limburg should be a nice opportunity to get him integrated with that group.”
Follow updates from the Ronde van Limburg through our social media channels.
