Former Phoenix Blythe making his mark on world stage

The 22-year-old road specialist from Sheffield has enjoyed a promising start to his 2012 campaign having joined the team that helped Cadel Evans win last year’s Tour de France.

Blythe rides for the American-backed BMC Racing Team having departed the European-based Omega Pharma-Lotto alongside renowned climbing finisher Philippe Gilbert at the end of last year.

Blythe was BMC’s highest-placed finisher in last week’s Tour of Qatar, coming home 10th on the general classification, thanks mainly to a second-place finish on the opening stage.

It was not all plain sailing for the Yorkshireman, who cut his knee and bruised his hip in a penultimate-stage crash, and also suffered a puncture on stage four.

“That’s the way racing goes,” a reflective Blythe said in the aftermath.

“It’s not like I could have done anything about it. I’m happy with my condition, so that’s the main thing to take away.”

Blythe has stayed on in the Middle East for the Tour of Oman which began yesterday and runs until Sunday.

As BMC’s designated bunch sprinter he will be in the mix for yet more strong finishes as he continues building towards a possible grand tour debut back in Europe this summer.

“I’ve never done this race before,” the former Sheffield Phoenix junior member said.

“You can’t get any racing like it back in Europe.

“I’m off to a good start (after Qatar) and I’ve got a good foundation to build on.”

A prodigious talent as a youngster, Blythe took the brave step of quitting British Cycling’s Olympic Aacdemy in 2008 to go it alone on the continental circuit.

He moved to Belgium and was able to prosper courtesy of a Cycling Time Trials scholarship.

Blythe was a trainee with the Lotto team in 2009 before turning professional the following year.

He won the Circuit Franco-Belge overall in 2010 after taking two stage wins.

Last season he achieved podium finishes in the Ster ZLM Tour, GP Stad Zottegem and Ronde van Drenthe but it was his consistency as a ‘domestique’ (support rider) to the likes of Gilbert that earned him great respect and is why he has been taken by the revered Belgian to one of the biggest teams on the circuit.

Blythe finished in the bunch of a very strong field yesterday on the 159km first stage of the Tour of Oman.

Germany’s Andre Griepel won the Tour’s opening gambit with American Tyler Farrar coming home third on a stage more noted for the struggles of Team Sky and Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish did not contest the bunch gallop after he was forced off the road late on and into the dirt by runner-up Denis Galimzyanov’s Katusha team-mate Alexander Kristoff of Norway.

Cavendish, who won two stages of last week’s Tour of Qatar, finished that race in similar circumstances to the way he started this week’s event, crashing out with a kilometre to go.