Charlie Quarterman's baptism into the pro elite was going fairly well until he reached the short ladder of hairpins on stage 2 of the Tour de la Provence. Then, on the rolling hills leading to the finish overlooking La Ciotat, the Trek-Segafredo neo-pro was fighting for survival all alone.

Hammer one day, nail the next, such is the cliché, but in the case of Quarterman, who went to the same school as Radiohead's Thom Yorke, it may have been more a case of karma police.

Still in his mountain jersey, he crawled across the finish line of the Route des Cretes.

The 21-year-old from Oxford proved early on that he was one of the stars of this Provence race, his second as a professional. Riding the breakaway on the road from Chateaulnard to Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer was, he said, "surprisingly easy," despite the fact that it was his first experience as a professional.

"I was always pushing a little bit, but it was only in the last hour that I really started riding hard," he said. The breakaway group was caught four kilometers from the finish, but Quarterman admitted that he began to dream big.

"I was surprised how close I came to finally winning the stage," he said.

"I started to believe a little bit when they were struggling to make up time with around 15km to go, but with such a fresh peloton and crosswind, I knew they would be fast behind.

Although he got the polka-dot jersey, he knew he was only a temporary caretaker in a race that turned toward the mountains on stages 2 and 3.

"The plan? the quarterman laughed at the question. 'The plan is to lose 15 kilos. If I can do that, I might have some potential."

In the end, he failed to lose 15 kilos overnight, proving his prediction correct. Quarterman fell off at the foot of the Côte de Mazougues and spent the second half of the stage alone with the team cars.

"It was pretty brutal," he said. I made the mistake of changing bikes before the start and forgetting to add fuel." But I was happy to get there in the end."

However, despite his lonely ride before the broom wagon at the 80 km mark, Quarterman said he "never" thought about retiring."

"I was worried about being outside the time limit, but I never thought about quitting.

His trajectory was as rapid as that of his 18-year-old Trek Segafredo colleague Quinn Simmons. He said, "I learned a lot on Leopard's Continental team. I got knocked down a lot in the races, but I learned about the level of competition and got used to it."

He was also a member of the team that won the World Championships in 1983, and was a member of the team that won the World Championships in 1985.

His career really took off last year when he and Holdsworth Zappi won the British Championships under-23 time trial. It was a bit of a crazy month, but that's what made the move," he said. Everything happened so fast, and in six weeks my life changed."

"After three tough years of illness and falls, it's hard to believe it's all coming together. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm having so much fun."

Next up is a tour of the UAE." I don't want to make any silly comments before I know how difficult it really is, but anything is possible. The young players are already doing well and as long as I work hard we will get there one day."[35