BASILDON cyclist Russell Hampton has admitted his relief at securing his future for next season.

After months of negotiations, Hampton this week signed a one-year deal to ride for British team Raleigh.

The 23-year-old had a fantastic Tour of Britain, spending four days in the King of the Mountains jersey riding for Sigma-Sport Specialized and that form had attracted interest from other teams.

But as teams moved to fill their rosters, potential deals for Hampton were not completed and he was forced to sit and wait.

Finally, Raleigh, one of the biggest domestic teams, put an offer on the table.

“It’s good that it’s now all been sorted,” said Hampton. “It’s been a frustrating time really. I haven’t had an agent, so it’s been me dealing with all the negotiations.

“I had discussions with a number of teams and some of the terms they were offering were not great, so I decided to wait.

“Raleigh came in quite late in the day and I’m delighted they did.”

Hampton says Raleigh have a better race programme than much of their domestic rivals, often competing in Canada and the USA where the bike manufacturer is a big name.

“Hopefully it will allow me to race in some of the criteriums in North America as well as the domestic races,” said Hampton.

Hampton will join his new team-mates on a training camp in Mallorca in January and will get his first taste of racing for the team in a series of one-day races on the island in February.

“A lot of World Tour teams will be racing in those races so it will be a chance to race against the very best,” Hampton said.

TRAINING WITH CAV

WHILE Russell Hampton has been waiting on tenterhooks to secure a ride for the forthcoming season he has been racking up the miles in the Essex countryside alongside the biggest name in the sport and current world champion Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish, who became Britain’s first road cycling world champion for 46 years earlier this year, has been training with Hampton and fellow south Essex riders Daniel Patten, Jason White and Maldon’s Alex Dowsett, who is a team-mate of Cavendish on Team Sky.

The group can be seen pedalling the back roads of Essex with Cavendish resplendent in his World Championship bands.

“It is pretty weird but it’s fantastic we are able to train with a world champion. He does get recognised, especially when he riding around in those rainbow bands,” laughed Hampton.

“We go all over the place, but mostly around north Essex. It’s not too great for riding your bike down here. But anywhere north of Chelmsford is good.”

The group are regulars at the Blue Egg cafe, in Braintree, where they get their caffeine fix and are becoming a regular sight to club riders.

“I knew him pretty well before,” said Hampton of Cavendish. “He completed the British Academy programme just before me and then when I was living out in Italy he was out there too so we know each other fairly well.”

Cavendish became Britain’s first ever winner of the green jersey at the Tour of France last summer and has won an incredible 20 stages in the biggest bike race in the world.

He has also won the green jersey in the Tour of Spain and won a total of 30 stages in the three Grand Tours: France, Spain and Italy.