Portsmouth pride in Tru champion

Alongside Jack Carlin and Ryan Owens, Petersfield’s Truman powered to glory in the under-23 team sprint at the UEC Track Juniors & Under-23 European Championships in Italy.

Watson oversaw the early stages of Truman’s development on the Mountbatten Centre velodrome.

And he has backed him to kick on – with the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 a realistic ambition.

He said: ‘Joe is fast making the transition from being the best at was he does in the UK, to one of the best in the world.

‘I’ve no doubt he will continue to progress and he will be a real contender at future Olympics.

‘He is a fantastic asset to our club, too. As well as being a high-profile athlete, who inspires our members young and old, he regularly volunteers when he can to help with coaching sessions and social events.’

Truman went on to add a bronze medal in the under-23 1km time trial, with a personal best time of 1min 1.7sec.

Meanwhile, fellow i-Team product Dibben followed up his elite points race world title with European under-23 success in Montichiari.

Watson added: ‘Although Jon left us in 2007 after he turned junior, it doesn’t seem that long ago he would accompany his dad Jerry on our Saturday club runs.

‘And he would outsprint all of us, revving away on his restricted gears!

‘I bumped in to Jerry at the Tour Series in Portsmouth last month and he reminded me that apparently I predicted, shortly after Jon joined i-Team, he would win an individual world title.

‘I don’t remember saying that but it was obvious to us all Jon was a huge talent.’