Stevie Williams may be one of the hottest young properties in British road racing, but the Aberystwyth rider will just be glad to be back in the saddle when he lines up for his new team in the Tour of the Basque Country this week. The six-day, 784km ‘Itzulia 2019’ will be Williams’ debut ride for the world tour series Team Bahrain-Merida, but it hasn’t been an easy run to getting to the start line of a race that was won by Slovenian star Primoz Roglic in 2018, with former Team Sky rider Mikel Landa second. A nagging knee injury forced Williams to spend five months fighting back to fitness and now he is ready to test himself in the top tier of cycling.