Bunbury cyclist on a roll to a pro career

Bryce Lanigan is one of WA’s most prominent rising stars in cycling, having already earned himself an under-19’s National Criterium Championship on the way to what he hopes will become a professional riding career.

Bryce has grown up riding his bike in Bunbury – splitting his time between the road and mountain bikes as a junior.

Entering the competitive scene as an under-15, the young talent quickly developed his skills and race craft in both disciplines and earned himself a position on the inaugural State Mountain Bike Development Squad in 2013 and again in 2014.

“It was always a good cross over,” Bryce said.

“You had good fitness you would get from the road, while you’d get some really good technical skills and confidence from the mountain bike.”

Still unsure which discipline he wanted to pursue, Bryce continued to race on the road and dirt until 2016 when he made road racing his priority.

His talent did not go unnoticed and as an under-19 he was picked up by the Satalyst Verve Development Squad – one of WA’s most elite cycling development teams.

After just 12 months, Bryce was promoted to the Satalyst Verve NRS Team and raced in four National Road Series events in 2017.

“It was a really good experience for me and really good for my development,” he said.

“Racing up with the elite guys and with bigger packs and those sort of organised events was definitely really good for my progression.”

At the end of last year, the Satalyst Verve was unable to secure the sponsorship needed to continue the NRS team and was reduced to operate only at a State level.

Bryce now rides in the colours of Bunbury bike shop MeloVelo as a part of its new racing team.

A typical training week for Bryce usually clocks up about 20 hours, including two gym sessions and multiple high intensity and interval sessions on the bike.

Depending on what areas need working on and his race schedule, some extra power sessions including interval or functional threshold power (ftp) drills are scheduled.

“I generally do two gym sessions a week at the South West Sports Centre, so we’re more working on strength and core, just to make sure we have the balance right,” Bryce said.

“I’ll probably do two or three interval sessions a week – usually the Tuesday, Thursday and then maybe on the Saturday I’ll do some more efforts.

“It depends on if I want to work on my sprint, or if it’s more the 20-minute or hour FTP basis, with the rest of the rides through the week being pretty long – up to four or five hours.”

So far this year, the 19-year-old has claimed second overall in the elite class of the Ring Summer Criterium Series, sixth place in the under-23’s National Criterium Championships and taken two top-10 finishes at the Great Mekong Bike Ride in Thailand.

Having deferred a sports science degree at Murdoch University, Bryce is hoping to win next year’s under-23 national title and earn a place on a continental team to take his racing through Europe and eventually onto the world tour.