Linda McCartney-WCU UK development team rider Tom Barras, who has just turned 22, is the son of Sid Barras, a rider many British fans will no doubt remember as one of Britain's top professionals.

Barras senior enjoyed 18 years as a pro in the 70's and 80's winning many races including the National Championships and most notably a stage of the Tour of Switzerland where he also wore the leader's yellow jersey.

Can son Tom follow in his famous fathers wheel tracks? Team Webmaster Stuart Howell travelled to West Yorkshire to find out.

When did you first decide to pursue a racing career?

From as long as I can remember all I wanted to do was to be a bike rider. Obviously growing-up with my old man as a pro, that's all I wanted to be, and he hasn't forced me into it by any means, it's just something I have always wanted to do.

Was he your biggest influence?

Yeah, it was my Dad, I used to go to races every week and saw him racing, and other guys racing, including my team manager Keith Lambert, and I just liked it. It was a high profile sport, I liked the lifestyle and it just appealed to me.

Having just finished your University degree, how important do you feel it is to get a higher education before pursuing a full-time cycling career?

Well, if your going to be successful at your sport, then there's no need to have a higher education I don't think.

The British scene in bike racing started to go down a bit in the early 90's so I decided to carry on at school and go to University instead of riding a bike, because it didn't look like I'd be able to carry on and make that much of a living out of it, especially not here. Now in 2000 it's the first time I've had a chance to ride my bike full-time, for the last month anyway.

But I believe if you're successful at it, if you're a top pro rider, you can make a lot of money from it. But if I don't make it to the top, at least I've got something to fall back on. I don't think doing a degree will hinder me in any way, hopefully! Still, I've only just turned 22 so I'm not too old just yet!

How did you get a ride in the Linda McCartney-WCU squad?

Keith Lambert the manager had a word with me in about November '99, when things were starting to happen, and he told me that there was a team developing and would I be interested in it? At the time I said I was very interested, but I couldn't do it because I was due to graduate this year and I wouldn't have time to race, and then he came back to me in January 2000 and said, well that's OK, carry on with your studies and just race as best as you can until June, when I graduate, and then just go full steam ahead. I thought about it and decided that it was a great offer.

The only doubts I had was that I had planned to go and race with a team in Belgium this year, so it was a difficult decision to make to which team I would ride for. I got the chance to ride for the McCartneys and it's turned out pretty well.

What advantages are there now you're riding full-time?

It's not so much the training, more the rest and recuperation, you can go and train hard and then you can recover in the afternoon, where when I was at Uni' I was having to come home and start work and stuff, that's the main thing. Also the recovery after races, if you race hard on a Sunday and have to get up and go to work again on Monday, it's pretty difficult. Where if you're full-time, it's a bit less pressure.

What sacrifices have you had to make for your cycling career?

You've just got to look after yourself, you can't go out and have late nights, drinking beer and doing things that normal kids our age do, you've got to try and have a routine, where you get up at the same time, you go training and then rest up and go to bed at a fairly early hour. And sometimes on a Friday or a Saturday night when you turn the radio on and there's dance music on it's pretty difficult to not go out with your own mates who don't ride a bike, I think that's the most difficult thing. But apart from that, well, including that, it's totally worth it because the rewards you get through racing out weigh all that anyway, it just keeps you happy.

What would you be doing if you weren't a racing cyclist?

I'd probably be doing considerable more partying! I suppose I'd be an Industrial Designer, that's what I'd be going into now, industrial and graphic design, which does interest me, I'm into it, but I'd like to be a pro bike rider.

How are you coping with a vegetarian diet and has it affected your racing at all?

I've had no problems at all; I was quite worried about it to begin with, going into the start of the year, but Linda McCartney Foods send a package every other month, and there's quite a lot of food there, and it's all good quality stuff, so that made it quite easy to change across.

What's your favourite?

I like their pots of pasta and lasagnes; they're brilliant! Better than meat!

How has the new team fitted together this year?

It's been excellent, all the lads get along really well, it's good working with Keith Lambert and Chris Lillywhite, they're looking after us really well, it's great. All the guys in the team are under-23, but we've all been Elite for a few years and raced with other teams, and this set-up is really professional, it's really good, we get a lot of support at the races, which gives us a psychological boost too, if you like. You go to a race, you've got team support, you've got the team car, the managers there, a masseur, a mechanic, it's just really good, there's everything you need and no sort of fuss that you don't need. Also there are the guys from Wales, the WCU, Shane Sutton, the national Welsh coach, a sports scientist, who sorts out our training and keeps in contact with us every week. So we've got support from all angles.

How do you feel about sacrificing your own chances for other team members?

I don't mind at all, you've got to be able to expect to do that as a team rider, in fact I quite enjoy it because it gives you a sense of satisfaction when you see them crossing the line first. James (Griffiths) won one of the under-23 races about two months ago and that gave us all a lot of satisfaction.

How much of an influence are managers Chris Lillywhite and Keith Lambert to you and the team?

A big influence, definitely, especially at the races. We race with ear piece radios, if we're not sure about a decision in a race, whether to go with a move or leave it, we can just ask them in the team car. Keith's got years and years of experience, and also Chris is fresh off the scene, he raced with the McCartney's last year, so if either of those can tell us what to do, you can rest assured that it's good advice.

Have they put any pressure on you or the team to get results this year?

They don't put any pressure on us individually at all, no, the pressure is brought on by ourselves, and it's a sought of will to win, and you want to win anyway, so there's no need for them to put any pressure on. I wouldn't say any of it is pressure; it's just support and encouragement.

How do you feel a team like the Linda McCartney-WCU UK development squad will benefit young riders?

The greatest benefit, the biggest advantage, would be if we move into the pro set-up in Europe, it looks like Huw Pritchard might be going across to ride with them a few times this year, so that's excellent for him, because he sort of took the plunge in the deep end and he's been riding with the team on and off.

How did he find that?

He found it pretty tough, but I think he came out of it quite positively, he enjoyed it, and he did some decent rides, so it's looking good for him. That's the main objective, to move across to that team, and this is like a big opportunity really. I suppose if you're good enough in this country then it's possible that you can move abroad anyway, but this just gives us a team to aim at, it's a stepping stone from one team to another.

What trips have you and the team made abroad this year, and do you feel you've benefited from them?

I've only been racing properly since June, since I've finished Uni', I went straight to Serbia, I did the Tour of Serbia, which was about 9 or 8 days, that was very hard for me, because I went into it quite unfit. I basically had a month off before, so that was like a training race for me, just to try and get fit. But it went OK and I felt as though I got a bit of form out of it.

The next trip we went on was the Four Bridges of Elgin road race in America, in Chicago, that was a five-day trip with one race, like a big kermesse. It was an international under-23 event, which went quite well, but it was so hot, it was really humid over there, I think it was about 92 degrees when we were racing, so we weren't used to that.

The last trip was to Belgium, which we're fresh back from, we did six races in eight days based in Brugge and Ghent, we rode kermesses with the Farm Frites and a few Mapei guys, that was a pretty hard experience but we're trying to bring ourselves up a level basically, ready for the under-23 nationals.

Are there any particular riders you look up to for inspiration?

At the moment, I have a lot of respect for Chris Walker. I got to ride with Chris in 1997 with the Invader team in my first year as a senior, and I've always looked up to Chris. He's a great guy and he's a top pro and he's one of the guys who should really be racing on the continent and earning a lot of money. He's got that sort of class, and he helps to motivate a lot of people like myself and other younger riders. Also John Tanner, he's out of the same boat as Chris really, he's another world-class rider.

More locally, Jon Clay. Johnny only lives about 10 miles from me and he's another top quality rider. But I'd say the guy who's influenced me the most was my old man.

What are your strong points?

I don't know really, I'm OK at everything, I don't really excel at any one thing. I'm only a fairly skinny guy, but I prefer sprints, because I was getting up there a little bit in the sprints in Belgium, I prefer that to the big mountains, but I don't think I have fully developed as a rider yet really, because I've not really had chance to be full time, I haven't really found my niche.

What do you feel has been your best ride to date?

The one that I was happiest with was 2nd in the Junior Tour of Wales, behind Charley Wegelius, who now rides for Mapei. I was very pleased with that because Charly and myself were on the same team at the time, we cleaned up and got 1st and 2nd, it was a good team thing.

This year I rode the National Criterium Championships about two or three weeks after I graduated, and I was 7th, I was pleased with that.

In the under-23 races and the Premier Calendar races I've had a bit of a support role to try and help the other riders out a little bit, like Huw and James, because they're going better than me at the moment and James is in 2nd place in the national under-23 series, so myself and the other team members have got to try and help him. We're hoping to win that at the end of the year.

What are your goals for the next few years?