Ben was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, but now lives in the Isle of Man. He began cycling with B.A.T.S ALL TERRAIN at the age of 3, spending his early years racing BMX before turning to all disciplines of cycling. In 1996 he made his first international racing trip. In 1997 Ben won his first international race, in the following years Ben was regularly racing on the continent.

In 2002, he came second to fellow Olympian Steven Burke in the under 16 national scratch race championship. As a junior rider, he was selected to be part of the Great Britain national team. He also competed at the Junior Commonwealth Games, taking bronze in the points race, he won two national titles, the junior points race championship in 2004 followed by the junior scratch race in 2005. He represented his country at the Junior European tracking championships as well and the World Track and Road World Championships, He also competed in the senior scratch race in 2005, demonstrating his ability by finishing third to take the bronze medal.

In October 2005 he got selected to be part of Great Britain U23 Cycling academy where he spent three years, before turning professional with Team Katusha in 2009. During his period on the academy he represented his country at the 2006 Track European championship, 2007 Track European Championship taking Gold in the Team Pursuit, 2007 European Road Championships taking 5th.

In 2008 he was 4th in the European Road Championship, represented his country at the Beijing Olympics riding the men’s road race and was 4th in the World Road Championships, he then proceeded to sign his first Professional Contract.

He made his professional road debut in August 2007 joining Barloworld as a trainee during which time he won the King of the Mountains title in the Tour of Britain.

During 2008 he raced for the British Cycling development team and won his first UCI ranked race. He represented Great Britain in the 2008 Olympic Games road race and at the UCI Road World Championships were he finished fourth in the under 23 race. After the championships he signed a two year professional contract with the new Russian Katusha team.

In 2009 he was selected to ride the Giro d’Italia. He finished third in the stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia. He also won a stage of the Tour of Britain. Ben spoke with CyclingNews in 2009, describing himself as “an all rounder, who can do well in the Classics and win stages.

During his first season with Sky his most significant result came at the Tour de Picardie, at which he won one stage, the general classification, the points classification and best young rider.

2011 has seen  Ben win his first stage of a UCI World Tour race, winning stage two of the Tour Down Under inAdelaide. Four days later he also won stage six. Since  then he has continued his excellent form by wins at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon; stage five, Tour de Romandie; stage five and the Tour of California; stage two.

He has just returned from his first Tour de France.

Ben has raised thousands of pounds for charity and won the Child of Achievement Award, in London, aged 9.

Image courtesy of www.velouk.net.