PETE Kibble has bagged himself an Italian job and hopes that his new venture is a huge step closer to carving out a career as a professional cyclist.

The 18-year-old, from the hamlet of New Zealand, near Calne, is currently in the midst of warm-weather training in the Altea Hills in Calpe, southern Spain, as he prepares to ride for the Zappi Racing Team in the UCI (Union Cycliste International) U23 road racing events across the year.

Kibble, who won stage two of the Junior Tour of Wales in Brynmawr last season and finished third overall in the National Junior Road Race series, is one of eight young British riders that will be vying to represent their new team, which is run by Oxford-based Giro d’Italia competitor Flavio Zappi, in Spain, Italy, Belguim, Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Serbia.

The former Royal Wootton Bassett Academy pupil has jumped in at the deep end for his first foray into the big wide world but hopes that his new lifestyle is the right move for his career ambitions.

“They approached me during the summer and he (Zappi) likes riders that can climb a bit. I got in touch later in the summer, and then I signed,” said Kibble.

“It gives you the opportunity of such a great calendar of racing – real top-level racing across the continent – that you probably wouldn’t get from a bigger set-up.

“In a bigger set-up, you probably wouldn’t get those opportunities, but I’ll get a lot of chances to race this way.

“After last season's racing, I knew I should be able to get some sort of ride with a team, so I shouldn’t have had to go to uni, but it’s definitely nice to be able to do something like this instead – I’ll treat it like my uni.

“It’s not easy but it’s definitely a stepping stone.

“We’ve got a good group of lads here and they all get along very well, which makes it easier.

“You’ve got a long way to go. It’s real hard racing and it will be a definite shock to the system when you start, so that’s why we’re doing hard training for the next few months and we’ll see where we end up.

“Turning professional is the dream. Loads of pro cycling teams are out here at the moment, so every time we go out riding, we see at least 30 pros.”