Everything is relative. Shaw’s ‘social life’ is not that of the average 20-year-old, one suspects. He has plans for Christmas, but they involve bringing forward festivities to accommodate a sojourn in Spain, where he plans to ‘knuckle down’ to more riding. When I ask when he will start to think again about the bike, he answers in an almost guilty tone.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about the bike.”

At the end of a season that began among the hopefuls of Lotto-Soudal’s U23 team, and which ended with a pro contract and a place alongside André Greipel, Jurgen Roelandts and Tony Gallopin  for next year, Shaw might be forgiven for seeking something approaching normality in the one month of the year a professional rider has to himself. Not a bit of it.

He offers a veritable cast list of examples, up to and including his housemate, Alex Braybrooke. Shaw is also keen to point out that the support of the DRF is not limited to matters pecuniary.

“When in Belgium…” might be an easy phrase to bandy at the young Brit in the Low Countries, but when you don’t know the language or even the law, the advice of those who have gone before is invaluable.

Perhaps only in cycling is Belgium considered a sporting mecca. The challenge to name a famous Belgian is a party game only for those ignorant of cycle sport. For those who follow pro cycling closely, the challenge is knowing where to stop  (perhaps with Tiesj Benoot, the wildly talented 22-year-old, whom Shaw can refer to next year as team-mate).

Family affair

Shaw says his family is more relieved than delighted by his ascension to the pro ranks, despite it coming so quickly. He is too.

Explaining that you have become a professional is simpler than having to explain the phrase stagiaire to a bewildered mother, and he no longer needs to borrow money from his parents for a ferry crossing home.

Shaw admits that he had given himself until the end of his time as an espoir to assess whether he was close to “making it”, or whether he would return home and get a proper job (“whatever that means”). Close observation of those who had failed to make the leap to the pro ranks by the age of 23 had given him a realistic view point.

“You have to be very good at 24 for teams to notice and pick you up.”

Having already been overlooked for a place on the British Cycling Academy, Shaw knows of what he speaks. He is living proof, however, that the road to the top doesn’t always pass through Manchester.

He offers Adam Yates (another Rayner Fund-ed rider) as the ultimate example: a rider who has matched and arguably surpassed the achievements of his twin brother Simon, despite following a lonely path to the pro ranks in France, while Simon enjoyed the support of a programme that had moulded the likes of Cavendish and Thomas, Stannard, Swift and Kennaugh; Rowe and Fenn.

“I hope I can show the younger generation that if you don’t get on a British Cycling programme, it’s not the end of the world,” Shaw says.

He is inspired by the success of Lotto Soudal espoirs old boy Dan McLay. Yet another rider who enjoyed the support of the DRF, McLay delivered some impressive results this season for Fortuneo-Vital Concept, winning the GP Denain in a seemingly laser-guided sprint to the finish line, and finishing four times in the top-10 on stages of the Tour de France, when those also in contention included Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and Greipel.

“It’s great to see Dan and Adam [Yates] get those results. A few years ago, I was racing those guys here and there, and it’s great to see. I think, ‘Ok!’ It’s massively motivational and boosts my confidence.”  

Shaw will start the 2017 season with no target other than that he has imposed upon himself: to be the best that he can be. For a less dedicated individual, this might already be setting the bar too high.

For Shaw – level-headed, and no longer a stranger in a strange land – it may already be enough. Belgium calling? Shaw has paid heed and is ready to reap the rewards.