Josh Tarling is still half asleep when he and Ben Turner arrive in the hotel lobby to speak to Cyclingnews on the morning of the Giro d'Italia rest day. He'd slept almost 11 hours the night before, only waking up half an hour before speaking to me, clearly feeling the effects of his second-ever Grand Tour.
He's joined by Turner, who's riding his fourth Grand Tour, and has been telling his younger compatriot all race to eat and to sleep. The Welshman doesn't listen to everything Turner tells him, they joke - but he's definitely been taking that particular tip on board.
As they sit down together for a chat before they head out on a rest day ride, seeing the pair side-by-side is a familiar occurrence at this Giro. Whether it's been in their light-hearted, sometimes chaotic vlogs on the Ineos Grenadiers social channels – or V-Logs, as they'd say – or their tag-team efforts within the race, the two Brits have become a recognisable duo over the last few weeks.
Three years apart in age, Tarling and Turner didn't grow up racing together, as many of the current crop of British pros did, and their friendship only really started when Tarling joined Ineos in 2023. From there, their similar qualities and similar programmes have seen them bond.
"We always do the same kind of races, and the last few years we've always done the grim ones together, like Paris-Nice, and last year we did a lot of the Tour build-up together," Tarling says. "And we always do a similar job in those races, so it's kind of clicked."
Turner adds, "I guess we're just close, aren't we? And as Josh says, we spend so much time racing together – to be fair, this year I don't remember the last day that I didn't see you. Even at home, we were all day together. So it's super nice, it's much better like this than just being quiet or not speaking."
For cyclists who start racing abroad at such a young age, it can be easy to forget how daunting it might be to join a WorldTour team as a still-teenager, and therefore how important it is to have a friendly face and some camaraderie.
"It's a lot easier, because you're not alone," Tarling says of often having Turner by his side on the road. "In the Vuelta last year, obviously I knew everybody, but it's different, you know? Especially this week, when you get tired, it's just nice to be around your friends.
"In the build up it helps too, because when you're doing it alone, you don't really have much of a reference or any back up or anything like that, so it's nice to go through it with somebody else, and then come to the race and do the same job and work off each other."
With a couple more Grand Tours under his belt, Turner does try and help Tarling out a little bit, sharing what he's learnt – don't push yourself where it's not useful to the team, save energy when you can, nail the basics – but they're much more like peers than a mentor and mentee.
"I tried to give him tips, but I don't think he listened," Turner laughs. "You told me to sleep," Tarling chips in.
"I told him to sleep, yeah, and eat a lot, and just save as much as he can every day, and then I see him not doing that, so he's obviously not listening. But obviously he's a much better rider than me, so I can't really teach him that much."
Friends off the bike, and key riders on it
Despite Turner's suggestion that Tarling is the better rider, which may be true just based on results, both have been really key parts of Ineos' Giro d'Italia so far, working hard for leaders Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman all race.
When it's their turn to work, the pair will often hit the front at the same kind of time, and it's clear that their off-bike relationship helps them to read each other in the race too.
"When you spend so much time with someone, and you go to all these races – it's the same for everyone in the team, but especially for me and Josh – we've done so many races together now, especially this year, you know what each other can and can't do, what they will and won't do," Turner explains.
"So you just have trust in each other and you have faith in the other person, and then you can really say 'Okay, I'm tired, can you do that, and we'll change', and we'll try and we'll always do the maximum that we can."
So far, that's been about using their strength in the flat and punchy moments, and really personifying the new, aggressive style of racing that Ineos have tried to adopt this year, which is certainly better for their abilities.
"When we went on that descent the other day, and stuff like that, that really suits us," Tarling says. "Because you could save us for the final week, but you'd only get so much out of us, whereas on stuff like that, where we don't have to use too many guys, it works out perfectly for us. I'll go or Ben will do two minutes full, and then we get out of the way and tap in it, get a bit of rest, but knowing we've exploded the race quite quickly."
There's certainly a balance between aggression and still racing smart, which Ineos openly say they're still working out, but in this Giro, for the riders especially, the main thing is to at least do something to try and go for the win.
"That's really what it's about, just making the most of everything, trying everything, exploring every option within the race, and having no regrets at the end of any race," Turner says. "Maybe sometimes you're like 'oh, we shouldn't have done that'.
"We may try to make too much, but at a certain point, you can also look at it the other way and think when we do these things and it does work, then that's a positive."
Classics riders at heart, Tarling and Turner are cut from a slightly different cloth from their leaders, Bernal and Arensman. But part of the success in this race has been how well their approaches have aligned.
"It's really good, because it's Egan who's pushing the race a lot, which is exciting," Tarling says. "And obviously Thymen is flying. So it's exciting, it feels like we're properly in the race, and it's always nice to feel like you can play a role with them as well.
"I think in the race, we all have similar vibes, we want to race, but then it's nice off the bike as well. Everyone's a similar age, it's a nice environment, on the kitchen truck, everyone's chatting, and it just works."
Even though we might think of Tarling and Turner as future Classics stars, they're definitely both warming to the positives of Grand Tour racing.
"It's way better here," Tarling laughs. "Flanders and them lot is horrible, you've got to race all the way to the line, whereas here, when you're dropped, you're like 'well, I've got tomorrow'.
"It's a lot different off the bike too, because in the Classics you have so much time where you have to prep for the next race or whatever, but then here you finish the stage, eat, have a bit of a meeting, hotel, massage, food and then sleep. So there's no real time to stress about the next day."
The good and the bad
As the two Brits say, a lot of the benefit they feel from having such close relationships in the team is the sense that you're not going through anything alone at a Grand Tour. That means sharing the good and the bad.
So far, the race has been going fairly well for Ineos, so there are mainly good things. Tarling took his first-ever Grand Tour stage win on day two, which would seem like an obvious highlight, but such is the group bond that he doesn't single out his individual success.
"Nah, that's selfish, that is," he says. "I'll say Alan, our chef, he's a bit of a GOAT. He's been getting us round.
"To be honest, it's just been a really nice group and I've enjoyed all of it really," Turner says of his best moments. "Just making the most of every day on the bike, and really enjoying racing the bike. Then to be fair, when Josh won, I was screaming in the car in Albania, so that's quite nice, I'll go with that."
What's not been so good? It's testament to the riders' strengths and racing so far that they both struggle to answer this one.
"I'm tired," Tarling says. "Also, Ben's crash yesterday, I think that was the most scary moment."
Turner adds, "Yeah, you've just reminded me, that hurt a bit actually. Yeah, we'll go with that."
Finally, what are they going to do when they go home? Maybe finally spend a bit of time not in each other's company for the first time this year? Well, it sounds like perhaps not.
"Not a lot, chill, see the dog," Tarling says. "We're going to have a barbecue, aren't we?" Turner interrupts. "We've been learning. It's Alan again, he's the best thing about it."
It was a vlog around the barbecue in Albania that first started Tarling and Turner's journey as the fan-favourite duo at this race, so it seems apt that they're going to put their skills to the test once they get home. But after three weeks of aggressive racing, GC tactics, and getting through their first Giro, the two are going to have learned a lot more about racing and about themselves than just how to barbecue.
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