The family of Finlay Tarling, who died at the Volta a Portugal on Friday, have issued a public statement, thanking the cycling community for the support they have received and saying they "couldn't be prouder" of the life their son lived.
Finlay Tarling, a 19-year-old Briton riding for the NSN Development Team, tragically died after a collision with a car during stage 8 of the Portuguese race.
He is the brother of Josh Tarling, who rides for the Netcompany-Ineos team, and was well on his way towards what surely would have been a successful career at the top level of the sport.
Tributes to Finlay Tarling have flooded in, which his family say have "helped carry us through". On Saturday, while the NSN Development Team pulled out of the Volta a Portugal, the NSN WorldTour squad raced on at the Czech Tour and the Arctic Race of Norway "with the full support of Fin's parents".
On Sunday morning, Michael Tarling – Finlay's father – posted a public message to Instagram in collaboration with Finlay's mother, Dawn, accompanied by a photo of them both with their son.
The message is reproduced in full below.
"This has been the hardest couple of days of our lives and it's taken us a bit of time to be able to post this.
"One of the things that has helped carry us through is the wave of posts, messages, emails, articles, and calls from across our family, friends, team, local and sporting communities. Hearing how lovingly and fondly Fin was thought of has been a huge help to us.
"We simply can't thank you all enough for the support we've had.
"I don't know how we carry on from here but we'll figure out with the support of all our family, friends, and community.
"Whilst our broken hearts will never be fixed, he was not only our son and brother but our best mate. Gentle, loving with the direst sense of humour we will miss him terribly.
"Whilst he was only 19 his short life was packed full of wonderful experiences and achievements and we couldn't be prouder of him.
"If you're heading out on your bike in the next few days give him a thought as you clip in."
