Amateur cyclist in talks with four WorldTour teams after Strava KOM heroics

Amateur cyclist Jack Burke has said he believes there is a 30% chance he will ride on the WorldTour next season, after discussions have opened around his recent KOM hunting.

The 29-year-old Canadian has been approached by four WorldTour squads, according to a report in Wielerflits, amid an online swell around his Strava record-breaking, which has seen him beat the best times on the Mortirolo, Stelvio, and Alpe d’Huez.

With each Strava file, Burke made a plea to professional teams to give him a “chance to compete against the best”. That call, it appears, has now been heard.

“It is all quite informal, via social media, but there is definitely interest,” he told Wielerflits. “The problem is that it is so late in the season that it is difficult to get a spot [in a squad]. If I had to estimate now, I think there is a 30% chance that I will ride in the WorldTour next year.”

Burke rode for Continental teams between 2016 and 2022, when he suffered a broken back in a training accident that put his career on hold.

He made headlines last month when he took over a minute off Vincenzo Nibali’s Strava KOM on Italy’s Mortirolo Pass, holding 435 watts for 43 minutes and 45 seconds. “Let’s hope some kind of opportunity comes from this,” he wrote at the time. “Anyone, anywhere, anytime. I’ll do whatever you want. I just want a chance to compete against the best guys.”

Just over a week later, Burke shared that he had also taken the crown on one of cycling’s most iconic mountains, Alpe d’Huez. This time, he bettered Sepp Kuss’s benchmark from 2022 by nine seconds. “I’m still trying to chase my dream,” he wrote in the Strava post.

Now speaking to Wielerflits, Burke explained that he began training properly again in May this year, and was “back in shape” by August. “I started riding and winning amateur competitions,” he said.

“This was a perfect year where I won every race I started and got three big KOMs. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what else I can do next year.”

With four teams now in discussions, the Canadian said his big dream is to become one of the peloton’s best domestiques, “like Sepp Kuss”.

“He is also a friend of mine,” Burke said. “We raced together before. My hope is that if a team goes to a Grand Tour for the classification, they will select me first, regardless of the leader. Because they know that I am the best support, that is my dream. I am better at helping others to a good result than racing for a result myself.”

Burke is the author of a book titled ‘How To Become A Pro Cyclist’, and hosts a podcast under the same name, where he offers training tips to amateurs.