# Adam Blythe

Adam Michael Blythe (born 1 October 1989) is an English former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2010 and 2019 for the BMC Racing Team, NFTO, Orica–GreenEDGE, Tinkoff, Aqua Blue Sport and Lotto–Soudal teams. Blythe began racing at a young age and went on to become a member of British Cycling's Olympic Development Programme.

## Amateur career

Born in Sheffield, Blythe began cycling at a young age with the Sheffield Phoenix club. Cycling was a family activity, his sister Kimberley Blythe was also fairly successful as a young rider.
Blythe became Derbyshire's Junior Sportsman of the Year in the East Midlands Sports Personality of the Year Awards, 2005.
Blythe left British Cycling's Academy Programme by mutual consent in February 2008, and went to race in Belgium. He stayed with the ex-professional cyclist, Tim Harris, in Westmeerbeek, near Antwerp. Blythe was awarded a Cycling Time Trials scholarship to enable him to race on the continent and develop further. He raced for the Wielerclub Des Sprinters Malderen which is a feeder club for a professional team. He also received support from the Dave Rayner Fund during his time in Belgium.

## Professional career

Blythe returned to Belgium to ride for the DAVO squad in 2009, under the tutelage of Kurt Van De Wouwer, a former professional. He had joined pro-tour team Silence–Lotto as a trainee in July 2009, it was announced on 7 September 2009 that he had signed a two-year contract with Silence-Lotto in the wake of a string of good results for the team.
In 2012, Blythe followed his teammate and close friend Philippe Gilbert to the BMC Racing Team. In October 2012, Blythe sprinted his way to victory in the semi-classic Binche–Tournai–Binche, popping out of his teammate's wheel on a cobbled sector with 700 metres (2,300 ft) to go, edging Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and John Degenkolb of Argos–Shimano.
In 2014, Blythe rode for the newly formed British NFTO team. After a very successful year competing on the British domestic scene, Blythe joined Australian team Orica–GreenEDGE for the 2015 season. After one season there in August 2015 it was announced that Blythe would be moving to Tinkoff for the 2016 season, where he would be reunited with directeur sportif Sean Yates, who worked with Blythe during his time with NFTO.
With Tinkoff folding at the end of 2016, Blythe joined the Aqua Blue Sport squad for its inaugural season in 2017. Following the announcement of Aqua Blue Sport's collapse, in September 2018 Blythe announced that he would return to Lotto–Soudal for the 2019 season, linking up with former Orica–GreenEDGE teammate Caleb Ewan as part of the latter's sprint train, with an additional role as a domestique for the team's classics squad.
In October 2019, Blythe announced that he would retire at the end of the season.

## Post-racing career

Blythe is a pundit for Eurosport's coverage of cycling, having worked part-time in this role on the channel's coverage of the Grand Tours during his final professional season in 2019. He was also "on-site" reporter for NBC Sports' coverage of the 2020 Tour de France, and fulfilled that role again in 2021.
In November 2019, Blythe announced that he was taking up a role with David Millar's cycling clothing brand CHPT3 as a product marketing executive.

## Personal life

He currently lives in Bollington, Cheshire, England.

## Major results
### Road
#### 2006

    3rd National Criterium Championships

#### 2007

    1st Overall Driedaagse van Axel
       1st Sprints classification
       1st Points classification
       1st Combination classification
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne Juniores
    6th Paris–Roubaix Juniors

#### 2008

    Tour of Hong Kong Shanghai
       1st Stages 2 & 3b

#### 2009

    1st Circuit du Port de Dunkerque
    1st Stage 7 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
    2nd Grote 1-MeiPrijs
    5th Antwerpse Havenpijl

#### 2010 (4 pro wins)

    1st Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
       1st Points classification
       1st Young rider classification
       1st Stages 1 & 3
    1st Nationale Sluitingsprijs
    3rd Omloop van het Houtland
    4th Grand Prix de Fourmies
    4th Schaal Sels

#### 2011

    2nd Houtem–Vilvoorde
    3rd Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem
    4th Overall Ronde van Drenthe
       1st Young rider classification
    7th Overall Tour de Wallonie-Picarde

#### 2012 (2)

    1st Binche–Tournai–Binche
    1st Stage 1 Paris–Corrèze
    2nd Omloop van het Houtland
    3rd Handzame Classic
    4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    10th Overall Tour of Qatar

#### 2013

    4th Overall Tour of Qatar
       1st Stage 2 (TTT)

#### 2014 (1)

    1st National Criterium Championships
    1st RideLondon–Surrey Classic
    1st Otley GP
    1st Ipswich and Coastal GP
    1st Circuit of the Fens
    1st Jersey International Road Race
    2nd Beverley GP
    3rd Beaumont Trophy
    6th Rutland–Melton International CiCLE Classic

#### 2015

    2nd Stafford GP
    3rd Overall Tour de Korea

#### 2016 (1)

    1st Road race, National Championships

#### 2017

    2nd Nokere Koerse
    2nd Handzame Classic
    4th Ronde van Drenthe

#### 2018 (1)

    1st Elfstedenronde
    2nd Road race, National Championships
    5th Handzame Classic
    7th Ronde van Limburg
    9th Three Days of Bruges–De Panne

#### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Giro d'Italia | DNF | DNF | — | 166 | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 155 |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |

### Track
#### 2006

    1st Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Championships
    National Junior Championships
       1st Scratch
       2nd Points race
    2nd Madison, National Championships (with Matthew Rowe)

#### 2007

    1st Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Championships
    1st Madison, National Championships (with Luke Rowe)
    1st UIV Cup, Six Days of Ghent (with Peter Kennaugh)
    National Junior Championships
       2nd Scratch
       3rd Points race

#### 2013

    2nd Madison, National Championships (with Peter Kennaugh)

#### 2014

    2nd Team pursuit, National Championships