Simon Carr was raised in the shadow of the Pyrénées in the south of France. His Welsh parents had moved there when he was a small child, so he would have the chance to spend his youth in the countryside. He started cycling on an old mountain-bike they had lying around their home and did his first races at his French public school. His family spoke English at home, but otherwise Simon’s upbringing was French.

He wasn’t very good at trials or downhill at first, but did very well in endurance cross-country. Soon, the nearby mountains lured him onto the road and he joined a local club. He wanted to dance up cols in the Tour de France.

After some great results as a junior, Simon made the move to the World Tour with EF Education-Easypost in 2021. He finished his first grand tour, the Giro; won the young rider’s classification at his home stage race, the Tour de Occitanie; and had a great ride at the Strade Bianche, where he finished 11th. He backed that up with a number of strong rides in 2022. Last year, Simon earned four big wins, with victories on stages of the Tour of the Alps, Tour de Occitanie, and Tour of Langkawi, where he also won the overall title.

In the future, our young French-British climber hopes to win grand-tour mountain stages and classics such as Liêge-Bastogne-Liêge.