A POPULAR professional cyclist from Talybont has said he considered a career change after the team he joined for the coming season folded suddenly.

But with characteristic grit and determination, 30-year-old Gruff Lewis has found a new team after Ribble Pro Cycling offered him a place on their team for 2018, albeit without a wage.

Sponsors have stepped in, too, to save the day.

Speaking to the Cambrian News this week, Gruff, who has a nine-month-old son Guto with his fiancée Elin, told how he considered leaving professional cycling.

“I considered a change in career because I was struggling to see how cycling could fund me and my family,” said Gruff, who was crowned Welsh Cyclocross Champion before Christmas while nursing a broken metacarpal bone.

“When I heard that the team had folded, I wanted to get off the phone as quickly as I could to try and salvage things with the other team. But the money had already been spent on other riders.

“You are in a situation where you are on a monthly wage over a year, and you are told on 4 December that you have not got a job for next year.

“You have got to put your passion to one side, which is something I have never done before.”

But Gruff was persuaded not to be too hasty by friends and family, including long-time supporter, Shelley Childs of Cambrian Tyres.

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition tomorrow