Stevie Williams: To win in the WorldTour, there's no feeling like it 🏴
The Welsh star looks back at the dark years, his stunning 2024, and a bright future
Stevie Williams rose to prominence as one of the most exciting and talented junior and U23 riders in Great Britain. A dominant win in the 2018 edition of the Ronde de l'Isard, followed by another sterling performance at the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia, set him on the course for a bright future in the WorldTour.
Trajectories, however, are easy to predict but just as manageable when it comes to getting knocked off course. The first few years of Williams’ career were anything but straightforward, with a serious knee injury and long rehab overshadowing his first two years at Bahrain Victorious. Then, when it looked like a fresh start with B&B Hotels was on the horizon, the sky came crashing down after the team followed before Williams could even race for them.
At the last minute, in 2022, Israel-Premier Tech stepped in and offered the Welsh rider a lifeline, and since then, the now 28-year-old hasn’t looked back.
His first year on the team, in 2023, drew instant success, but 2024 saw Williams reach an entirely new level with an overall victory in the Tour Down Under, followed by a historic victory in La Flèche Wallonne and a home win in the Tour of Britain. There were other noteworthy moments, too, not least a Tour de France debut and a contract extension that will tie him to the team until the end of 2028.
“You never stop believing but there have been times with things like the knee surgery and the teams folding,” Williams told us ahead of his 2025 season debut at the Tour Down Under.
“It’s been a bit of a mess, the first few years of my career, so to be where it is now, stable, and where I can focus on riding my bike and being healthy, that’s been the most important thing. When I was under-23 I managed to get a few good results in France and Italy and I always reminded myself that the riders I was beating at that level were going on to win races, your likes of Almeida, Pogačar, Hirschi and Vlasov. They were the names I used to race, and once upon a time I was racing against them and trying to be competitive. That was one thing that made me stay confident and still believe when they were doing well. I knew that if I was able to get healthy and stay at a level where I could train well and be on a good team then the world could be my oyster,” he told us.