Weekend success for riders in Team Raleigh GAC makes up for Aberystwyth frustration
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Following a frustrating night for Raleigh-GAC in Aberystwyth, the team came back in fine form with two wins over the weekend. Two crashes for Bernie Sulzberger in Friday’s Tour Series stage in the west Wales coastal town scuppered the team’s primary objective, which was to extend Bernie’s lead in the points jersey.
Bernie explained that two broken buckles on his racing shoes hampered his ability to sprint and forced him to retire early from the race, which allowed Marcel Six to close the gap in the race for the Sprint leaders jersey.
The sweltering conditions took their toll on all the riders in the Tour Series and our boys were extremely grateful for their High5 hydration tablets.
It wasn’t all bad news in Aberystwyth though as Tobyn Horton finished fourth and Graham Briggs and Dan Holloway also made it into the top ten, which allowed Raleigh to claim enough points in the Team Standings to move up one place, above Node 4 into fourth place.
Team Manager Cherie Pridham said, “I’ve got to be happy with the guys tonight, we had a bit of bad luck with Bernie but he’ll recompose himself and come back fighting at Peterborough on Tuesday. As a team I couldn’t ask for more commitment from them. The Tour Series is a team event and tonight we showed our team strength. That said, the yellow jersey is great to have. Bernie will get his injuries cleaned up and I’m sure he’ll be ready for Peterborough.”
Matt Holmes gets first win at Loughborough crits
Putting the disappointment behind them, the team headed across the country on Friday night to prepare for the Loughborough Criterium race on Saturday, which was duly won by our promising 18 year old Matt Holmes.
Matt’s win came in part thanks to some strong support riding from fellow team members Simon Holt, Jeroen Janssen, Liam Holloway and Jamie Sparling.
Win for Russell Hampton at Hillingdon GP
The success continued through to Sunday as Raleigh-GAC’s Russell Hampton took top spot on the podium at Hillingdon Grand Prix circuit race, winning the sprint finish from a breakaway that also contained Matt Holmes and Daniel Holloway. Matt, Daniel and Russell are part of the team that will be heading to Quebec, Canada shortly for the up-coming Tour de Beauce.
