JOE Nally has a Facebook page dedicated to his cycling career. At its heart is a diary blog that chronicles in some detail the 19-year-old’s latest racing adventures, how he and his team fared, the course, the weather, the crashes, the injuries, the triumphs and the failures.

Following particularly eventful days on the road, the prose flow off the page at some length. Nally has an engaging writing style and is not shy to lay bare his feelings, especially following a frustrating ride that didn’t go to plan or in exuberance after a good day.

He says he does it primarily to update those who have followed and supported him on his cycling journey from the village of Charleston in Fife all the way to his current role as an endurance rider within the Great Britain senior academy. The number of comments and “likes” that follow each post show he is well regarded and fondly thought of.

There is also an element, though, of catharsis attached to the writing process. Nally has endured two largely difficult years on the bike and admits the greatest strain in being involved in elite sport is often the mental rather than physical one. Replaying events in his head and then sharing them on social media can often help.

“I get a lot of people saying they like reading my posts and tell me not to stop,” he said. “Part of it is because there have been a lot of people who have helped me over the years and it’s nice to keep them involved.

“But at the same time it also helps me clear my head. If I want to vent about something then I can do that on the page and then I get about 15 people telling me everything will be fine. And that can be helpful. If I’ve had an eventful race or something’s happened typing it out can help give you some clarity. And that’s normally useful.”

There are other support mechanisms in place to help a teenage athlete living life on the road cope with those pressures, including within the GB structure. Most helpful, however, is the chance to chat with those going through the exact same highs and lows.

“The coaches are really good with us and always available if you need someone to open up to,” Nally said. “And I’m with the guys in my team day in, day out. We live together in Manchester so we’re all really close. If any of us has a problem, we always know the others are there to help. We all know what the others are going through as we’re all living the same experiences.

“I’m still on the younger side of things at 19 and learning slowly. There’s a lot to deal with but you just have to get on with it. That’s my job.”

Nally returns to Britain tomorrow after spending the last few months competing in Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. His next race is the Tour de Yorkshire – “that’s the official title, I’m not sure why they opted for the French part” – that starts for the men on Thursday.

It is a four-stage event that will see Nally compete with fellow Scot Sean Flynn and alongside high-profile riders such as Marcel Kittel and Chris Froome, the latter appearing for the first time in Team Ineos colours following their metamorphosis from Team Sky.

“It’s still a relatively new race but it’s always had big names going in it,” Nally said. “I’ll be racing against some of the world tour guys and that’s always a next level experience for me. I’m really looking forward to it.

“There’s always a better atmosphere at that level of racing with TV cameras there and a lot of attention on it. I’ve never raced Yorkshire before but I’ve been told the crowds at the side of the roads are just unbelievable.

“For us there’s not really a huge amount of expectation as we’re going with a mixed team with under-23 guys like myself and others like Dan McLay who’s a world tour sprinter. We don’t really have performance targets as such. It’s going to be about just learning the ropes in this kind of race and getting stuck in really.”

A difficult 2018 took a positive turn last September when Nally was selected to race in the Tour of Britain. Having survived and thrived in that pressurised environment, the Hardie Bikes competitor is hoping Yorkshire can provide a similar springboard to success.

“That was such a good week for me,” he said. “And having done that makes me a little bit less intimidated and more excited going into this one. I know I can finish a race like that and if you know that then that’s half the battle.

“I’ve not had the best start to the year so Yorkshire gives me a chance to redeem my season. Doing the Tour of Britain last year gave me a real lift after a difficult year so I’m hoping this can do the same.”

As always, Nally’s family will be on the streets to cheer him on. He regrets not being able to go home to Scotland more often due to the congested cycling calendar but concedes that it has at least spared his parents the lengthy road journeys that were a regular feature in the infancy of his cycling career.

“My mum gave up everything really to ferry me around Britain when I was younger,” he said. “In the past she would travel to take me to Derby and stay while I did a camp for a week. Now the family can come down, stay in a hotel, watch the race and go home again. They’ll be out on the streets this week cheering me on and that always means a lot.”