Manx cyclist Jake Kelly has vivid memories of his last Commonwealth Games experience in August 2014.

It was the day that the heavens opened and the remaining riders in the men’s road race were absolutely drenched in some of the worst conditions imaginable.

’My abiding memory there - apart from the rain - was the huge crowds. There were a lot of Manx flags and familiar faces, including my mum and dad and little brother Josh. My elder brother Joe was in the same team with me,’ said Jake, who was only 19 at the time.

’I had ridden a lot of tough one-day races in Belgium that year, so I was up for it.

’With Cav out injured, our plan was to support Pete Kennaugh.

’I was proud to be pulling on the Manx colours and Cav was there in the team car, we had Pete and Mark [Christian], my brother Joe, Elliot Baxter and Rochie. It was a real big day.

’Pete went off the front on the first lap. Mark and I hung on as long as we could, but we were both swinging. I think I pulled out with about 50k to go, totally spent.’

Such was the rate of attrition in the 168km event, only 12 riders made it to the finish line out of 140 starters.

The race was won by Geraint Thomas of Wales, with Jack Bauer (New Zealand) and Scott Thwaites (England) battling it out for the silver medal.

Kennaugh finished eighth after being caught with a third of the race remaining. At one point he had been several minutes ahead of the field, but at the finish he was five minutes down on Thomas, his pro team-mate at Sky.

For a while, late last year, it looked as though the 2018 Commonwealth Games road race in Australia’s Gold Coast would be Jake Kelly’s swan song at top level cycling.

When he was forced wide going into the final right-hand bend of a one-day race in the UCI-ranked Rhodes Grand Prix last March he suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg. It was a cruel blow for the talented Manxman at the start of his second season with Team Wiggins.

’It was 100 metres from the race end, and I went hard into the barriers. I knew right away it was a serious injury,’ he continued. ’ I was completely off the bike for six weeks at which point I took off the removable cast and started riding the turbo, progressing from there, but my hopes for a strong season were dashed.’

Jake made a tentative comeback with Team Isle of Man at the Suir Valley Three-Day Stages Race (Ireland’s premier international cycle event) in early August.

’I was quite happy with my progress as I got a third on stage two and finished eighth on GC. I spent a while training in Girona before heading out to Hong Kong late season with Team Wiggins. It was a bit of a nightmare there as I suffered from the jet-lag and the conditions. I’d fallen asleep during the afternoon prior to the race.’

Jake had next to nothing to show for his season and thought his chances of getting a ride for 2018 were extremely slim, but out of the blue came an offer from ONE Pro Cycling.

’I was obviously relieved and very pleased to sign for the team. I know quite a lot of other lads there and have ridden with several of them over the years.’

TEAM LAUNCH

Jake travelled to London on Monday for the team’s official launch, after which he is going to Croatia and Slovenia with the squad.

’The aim is to get in up to seven race days. I’m not sure how that will pan out, but then I’ll return to the island before possibly heading to Italy for the Coppi e Bartali international, a UCI 2.1 race which is part of the European Tour. That event ends on March 25 and the Isle of Man team head out to Australia six days later so it doesn’t give me much time in between.’

Describing himself as a ’punchy’ rider, he considers that he is quite big and heavy at 6’ 1" in height and 77kg in weight. ’I’m good at sprinting, I like fast, flat racing the best but I don’t mind rough terrain or short punchy climbs...so perhaps you could say I’m a Belgium Classics kind of rider.

’Hopefully the course in Australia will suit me as it has a few short, lumpy climbs and it may be quite windy as it is close to the coast.’

Jake started cycling on mountain bikes at the age of 14 but then switched to roads. ’I rode the crit league at the NSC and the 10-mile time trials. I went away on a few trips organised by Dot Tilbury, which was good as they were affordable. Dot has helped all of the young kids get going one way or another.

’When I got stronger I started going out on the chain gangs, and often enough the likes of Mark Cavendish, Peter Kennaugh, Mark Christian and, in my early days, Johnny Bellis would be on them. Riding with them gave me great inspiration.’

Jake got an early ride with the Illi Bikes team - and from that he was selected for the Great Britain Cycling Team Academy, competing in the European championships on the track and Nations Cups on the road.

’After that I decided I wanted to focus on the road instead of the track, so at the end of 2015 I signed a two-year contract with Team Wiggins.’

Jake’s late grandfather, Roger Kelly, represented the Isle of Man in the Commonwealth (Empire) Games as a cyclist in Cardiff, 1958, and Perth, Australia in 1962.

JOHN WATTERSON