Luke Tuckwell signs for Italian racing squad Team Bike Terenzi

The Orange native and Bathurst Cycling Club member has signed on with junior Italian squad Team Bike Terenzi to race for them throughout the middle of this year over in Europe.

"I was pretty excited. Because this is my final year of school this year, we were initially under the impression that I'd stay in the country and race domestically," Tuckwell said.

"But this is too much of an opportunity that we can't turn down. I'm pretty keen and I can't wait to head off and start racing overseas. I'm buzzing for it."

READ MORE:

Tuckwell will be based just outside of Rome and will balance home-schooling and the rigors of racing against some of the world's best young cyclists.

"It's pretty much racing every weekend. It's pretty full on and it's all around Italy doing all the under 19 races," he added.

"It's a pretty full on calendar for the three month period that I'm there. It's something I need to be exposed to and see if it works for me and I need to learn to ride in those ridiculously larger pelotons. It's a completely different dynamic to racing in Australia."

Those pelotons is what he is most looking forward to experiencing. For comparison, Tuckwell recently took part in the Tour of Gippsland where there were just 33 under 19 men racing. When he heads overseas, he could be confronted with entry numbers closer to 200.

"Racing in the bigger bunches, there's no comparison between bunches in Australia and bunches over there," he said.

"I really want to learn how to ride those bunches because I've mastered it in Australian under 19, but it's completely different overseas."

He will head over on April 11, but riding throughout Italy won't be the only thing on his agenda.

While over there, he will also be part of the Australian under 19s squad.

"That's a pretty new opportunity that's come up," Tuckwell added.

"Auscycling for the first time in many years has taken a focus towards under 19s road events and that's something they haven't really touched on since 2015, so there's been a massive void.

"I'll be based out of Belgium for a month, racing Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, pretty much all over the place doing some of the best under 19 races in the world. That's the cherry on top for my trip over.

"It's about knowing what you're doing so when you come back in future years, you're not worried about learning how to race, it's about getting results."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: