Team News: Raleigh-GAC in aggressive mood in the Tour of Britain

With 16 teams and 100 riders lining up in Ipswich, including a certain Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, this year’s Tour of Britain promised to be one of best supported in recent years. So far we haven’t been disappointed.

Raleigh-GAC line up in Ipswich
Stage 1 between Ipswich and Norwich saw crowds out in force along the sun-bathed East Anglian and Norfolk roads – roads which also saw their fair share of thrills and spills. For the most part Raleigh-GAC kept out of trouble, although several mechanical problems cost us dearly.

Speaking before the start of stage 2 on Monday, Team manager Cherie Pridham said “We had a bit of bad luck on the first day as the breaks went when we had punctures or were involved in the crashes. That left us out of position and playing catch up. Luckily [after the crashes] there was no real damage done to riders or bikes.”

The best placed Raleigh-GAC riders after stage 1 were Graham Briggs and Bernie Sulzberger, both of whom were delayed by the mass pile-up at the finish and came in 1m 42 behind stage winner, Team Sky’s Luke Rowe.

Putting stage 1′s disappointment behind them, Raleigh-GAC were keen to animate the race early on Stage 2, which left Raleigh’s home city of Nottingham, crossing the Peak District and heading 180km west to Knowsley.

“There’s still a great, positive mood in the camp, especially today as we start from Nottingham, the home of Raleigh,” said Cherie, “there are plenty of opportunities to suit our aggressive, attacking style.”

“If we’re in the mix at the finish then we’ll be setting Graham up for the bunch sprint.”

First Jamie Sparling and then Russ Hampton tried their hands in a break on the Nottingham and Derbyshire roads.

Sparling’s break was quickly reeled in but once Hampton was joined by five other riders they developed a commanding lead over the main climbs of the day.

Above: Russell Hampton animating the break
The break was caught with 25km to go, leaving it to our sprinters to contest the bunch gallop. Briggs and Sulzberger came home in 11th and 14th places respectively, whilst Evan Oliphant and Liam Holohan came home 37th and 39th, just a few places behind Wiggins. Meanwhile Hampton, who was spent following his earlier efforts, came in 3m 50s back.

Here’s what Russell had to say after the first two days of racing:

“I came off in one of the first crashes on the run-in yesterday (Sunday) with around 15kms to go, so I was pretty stiff this morning. I’ve got a few bruises and grazes on my hip and across my back. The crash was crazy, I actually slipped on Rico Roger’s sunglasses, my front wheel hit them and it went from under me.

“I thought I’d go up the road today instead of just sitting in the peloton, especially after yesterday’s fall. I waited for a good time to go and when Jack (Bobridge of Orica GreenEdge) went I thought that was a good wheel to follow.

“Once we got going it was a pretty standard breakaway. I was fishing for a few King of the Mountains (KOM) points but also trying to take things easy because it’s a long tour this year with eight tough stages and I learned last year not to burn all my bridges. I’m not going all out for the KOM jersey but it tends to come with the way I ride. I spend a lot of time in breaks so a jersey is always up for grabs for a rider like me.”

Whilst it was a satisfactory day it terms of exposure for the team, it was a sad day for Jamie Sparling who crashed out during the latter part of the race and looks to have injured his shoulder.

Hampton continues: “With Jamie crashing out of the race today we will miss him, he’s a huge guy to have on a team and he is the joker in the pack. We were on a bit of a high today with our performance so it’s put a bit of a dampener on things with Jamie going home.”

Russell is now fifth in the King of the Mountains (KOM) competition.