Team News: RST-Trigon’s Swedish Success

Four riders from the RST clothing & Trigon bikes racing team headed to Sweden for a six day stage race and came back with trophies!

From the service car & Håkan Larsson

Young riders Matt Sumpton, Dan Storey, Tom Stewart and Gunnar Gronlund from RST/Trigon Bikes gained lots of experience from the six-day stage race ‘U6 CycleTour’ in Sweden. It was held for the 36th year and takes in all aspects of racing with a prologue, three road stages, a criterium and a finishing time trial.

The starting field was the strongest ever with the Danish National Team as favourites, lining up Rasmus Quaade, the 2011 Under 23 silver medallist at the World Champs and Lasse N. Hansen, an Olympic track rider. Teams from the other Scandinavian countries and Holland also rode the event.

Team captain Gunnar Gronlund (British Hill Climb Champion) lead the way with an 8th place on the 3.5km prologue only 4 seconds behind Lasse N. Hansen. The rest of the team ended up midfield in the race against the watch. The first road stage was a gruelling experience. Seven laps of a circuit to give a distance of 147 kilometres, the course included a three kilometre descent on a gravel road! All in bitter rain.

Tom Stewart had a puncture but managed to get back by the service cars. The last lap saw a massive crash on the dirt descent when chasing breakaways but all the RST/Trigon Bikes riders managed to stay in the bunch where Tom sprinted to third place.

The third day was the Queen stage over 170km which was going to make or break the week. RST/Trigon Bikes was up front from the beginning with Gunnar Gronlund making a break going into the first climb together with one top Danish and Norwegian rider.

They got away and at the top of the climb, a second break had formed with Dan Storey and Matt Sumpton in it. Gaps easily widened to the bunch but after a while, three more riders bridged over to the second break and the chase was on. After 160 kilometres, a third break with Tom Stewart in it had finally caught up with all the other breakaways.

Lasse N. Hansen soloed to victory and Tom sprinted to fourth, Gunnar was eight, Matt eleventh and Dan fourteenth. RST/Trigon Bikes was the only team to keep all their riders ahead of the bunch and won the stage team prize with well over four minutes to an astonished Danish National Team. This also took them to the lead in the overall team classification.

RST/Trigon fought on and held that position during the following criterium and the last road stage. In the final time trial, Gunnar had to pull out due to a sore knee and with road bikes for the 14km time trial; Matt, Tom and Dan were an easy target for the Danes and Norwegians. The final result was a 3rd place in the Teams GC and a well-deserved trophy. In the individual GC, Matt Sumpton finished 10th, Tom Stewart 11th and Dan Storey 13th and all received prices for being top 15.

The U6 Cycle Tour was a great way for young riders, from youth to elite, to experience a varied stage race and what it takes to be a winner. The RST/Trigon Bikes riders took their chances, performed to be best of their ability and was the No one team for three days in the race … Well done to them!