Tour of Britain: Young Team for RCS at Tour

Led by former British Road Race Champion Kristian House, Rapha Condor Sharp will have a young international team at Britain’s biggest UCI race

A taste of the Tour de France comes to Britain in September with the biggest UCI race in the country, the Tour of Britain. Whilst British riders are show casing the talents of Britain at the highest level in Le Tour, there is a big lack of UCI races in this country and even the Tour of Britain seems to be held back from gaining an even higher status in the world of cycling due to the actions of certain people within Britain.

The Tour of Britain is though still far and away the biggest bike race in the country and an established event in the international racing calendar. One team which is already preparing for it is Rapha Condor Sharp. Team manager John Herety explained to VeloUK.net this week that they were always hopeful of getting selected for the race.

The RCS line up at the Tour of Britain will be very international with the Brits joined by a South African and two Aussies.

“It’s what we have aimed for from the start of the season. It has always been our intention to get a ride in the Tour and we have a good relationship with the organisers through our commitment to the Tour Series. I am a big believer in never taking things for granted though especially with organisers of big bike races like Sweetspot who have a duty of care to their own race to make sure they have the best possible teams there. “

“Each year the prestige of the event goes up and as more and more Pro Tour and Pro Continental team request invites, we are honoured to be included amongst such high-profile teams on the start list. As always, we look forward to racing in Britain’s biggest race and will look to perform well in front of what has become an increasingly knowledgeable British cycling public.”

John explained that the selection of the riders for the Tour is pretty much made already. “The race is tough” Herety says “so for the young riders like Luke, Felix and Oliver, it would have taken a fantastic first season for them to be considered.”

“Luke however will be one of the reserves for it and we have a couple of guys like Andy (Tennant) and Ed (Clancy) that are also likely to be reserves given their commitment to the track programme (Olympics). It doesn’t leave a lot of time after the Olympics to prepare but then I am hoping they will be very successful which may well open the door to a myriad of opportunities. They have to win first of all though ….!”

“We also have some crit guys in Dean (Downing) and Jimmy (James McCallum) who are there as back up.”

Kristian House with Luke Grivell-Mellor. House will lead the team at the Tour of Britain while the first year senior, Mellor, is a reserve.

The team says John, pretty much picked itself and expected to be riding are; Kristian House, Richard Lang, Richard Handley, Ben Grenda, Mike Cuming and Chris Jennings. “They were told a few weeks ago that if we got the invite, they would be riding (injury/illness aside) and that they should plan and train accordingly” John says.

Chris Jennings and Mike Cumming have headed to Majorca for a big week training out there and their manager admits that there isn’t the depth of racing in Britain that would be helpful for teams preparing for the Tour of Britain.

“We have some great races here in the UK but there isn’t enough of them and the way they are spaced in the calendar isn’t great despite the best efforts of people concerned, me included as I sit on the road commission. We’re well aware of the inadequacies of our own race programme here and we’re reliant on organisers who do it for the love of the sport.”

“Despite all the success we are having at the very highest level, we still depend a lot on a lot of people who are prepared to roll their sleeves up and get involved in the sport at our level. But, if we can learn one thing from what is happening abroad, it’s training. It’s a big factor and if you train correctly and pick your races, then it’s possible to come to the biggest bike race in the world prepared correctly. So in theory, we have no excuses.”

Aussie Richard Lang is one of two Australians in the RCS line up for the big race.

“Our team is relatively young in comparison to other teams in the race. Kristian should go well, Richard and Ben too and Richard Handley gets the chance to step up on a big platform, along the lines of Jon Tiernan-Locke did last year (King of the Mountains). Maybe not to that level but a chance for a young lad to show his climbing against some of the best climbers from the continent.”

“We’re going to the Vuelta Ciclista a León in Spain which is the same race we did last year and we can take seven riders there so we’ll take the six of the Tour line-up plus Luke and we’ll come straight back from that and do the Wilton Classic (Premier Calendar) the next day and then we will train.”

“We did that last year and that worked alright. We’ll have a training camp but my gut feeling is that given that most of those riders live in my vicinity we probably won’t have to go away for it.”

Race Director Mick Bennett says of the inclusion of all six British UCI teams, “This year more than any other there is a pressure to perform in front of home crowds on the British teams in The Tour of Britain. For the domestic teams this is their one major opportunity to race against world-class opposition on home roads making it a major aim for them and their sponsors. For those without a major European programme of racing to prepare for The Tour of Britain, there will be a big step up to racing against World Tour opposition, but we are confident that they will continue to acquit themselves well.”

The British teams in the 2012 Tour of Britain are IG-Sigma Sport, Rapha Condor Sharp, UK Youth (first time), Node 4 Giordana, Raleigh-GAC and Endura Racing. The six British UCI Continental squads join UCI World Tour squads Liquigas – Cannondale, Orica Greenedge, Vacansoleil DCM, Garmin Sharp and Team Sky. UCI Pro Continental outfits Team NetApp and UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling and UCI Continental team AN Post Sean Kelly make up the other names of the fourteen teams announced to date.

The 2012 Tour of Britain

Stage One Sunday 9th September Ipswich to Norfolk Showground
Stage Two Monday 10th September Nottingham to Knowsley
Stage Three Tuesday11th September Jedburgh to Dumfries
Stage Four Wednesday 12th September Carlisle to Blackpool
Stage Five Thursday 13th September The Stoke-on-Trent Stage
Stage Six Friday 14th September Welshpool to Caerphilly
Stage Seven Saturday 15th September Barnstaple to Dartmouth
Stage Eight Sunday 16th September Reigate to Guildford