The rubber really meets the road for Gravesend cyclist Billy Whenman this weekend.

Whenman, 25, is off to Essex for the Jock Wadley Memorial Road Race where he’ll tackle Britain’s best in his first big competition of the season.

After two years riding for the Belgian Zannata Cycling Team, Whenman signed for the Gillingham-based Team Bottecchia UK in October.

He suffered a bad crash during a sprint finish in May 2014 and had to race within himself for the rest of the season but now he’s back to his best.

Whenman said: "It happened at 45km/h and I was injured for the rest of the year. I did race again and finished in the top-three but I never felt confident enough to win.

"I had fluid on my knee and hip and the body shut down on one side. All my exercises were for the right leg and there was a muscle imbalance.

"But the testing and rehab shows that my legs are stronger than they’ve ever been before.

"My training is completely different now. It’s looking at the amount of energy your body is creating instead of just going out and riding your bike."

Whenman, who has cycled competitively since he was 11, turned professional at 18 but his career took a huge turn in 2012. Having been on the shortlist to represent Great Britain in cross-country mountain biking at the London Olympics, Whenman missed the cut and it prompted him to make a big decision.

A seven-time British mountain bike champion, Whenman switched to road racing.

He said: "It’s a completely different method of training because there are a lot more races and they’re longer and more specific. Lab testing and science comes into it more now.

"The first year was difficult because you have to start with zero points and work through the categories. I went from the bottom category to elite in my first year and won 18 races.

"In the second year, I won 21 races but then last year I had that big crash."

Now, though, Whenman is hoping for his best year yet on the road.

He’ll race for the Wim Hendriks Trofee in Holland on April 26 before taking part in the televised national criterium series and road race series in the summer.