Stage Win for Bibby in Cinturon Ciclista

Exclusive: VeloUK talks to Ian Bibby, Julian Winn and Phil Griffiths after Bibby of the Motorpoint team won stage 3 of the Cinturon Ciclista while Iker Camano of Endura racing took over the yellow jersey

Motorpoint’s Ian Bibby has won the third stage of the Cinturon Ciclista, the second stage win by a British team in two days. It was the fourth year that Motorpoint have won on the Island with Bibby having won a stage the year before as well as Russell Downing’s three stage victories.

The stage began with the team of the yellow jersey doing their best to control things in the really hot weather but after 20k or so, a break of fourteen riders escaped. That break included Rob Partridge of Endura and Rhys Lloyd of Pendragon-Le Col-Colnago). With the gap coming down, and the break shedding riders on the way to the Soler, the leaders numbered only four as they hit this brutal climb.

Steep and with lots of hairpins, the break went over the top of the Soler climb clear of the front group which was down to twenty near the top and reduced even more as they went over the top. Iker Camano was playing it smart, staying in touch over the top of the climb and then applying the pressure along with Bibby on the descent.

Iker and Ian knew the yellow jersey was not the best of descenders and while riders crashed, including Dave Clarke, a split soon went clear of the yellow jersey and closed in on the remains of the break including Rhys Lloyd and Rob Partridge.

Soon a group of nine riders including two from Endura (Camano and Partridge), two from Pendragon (James McLaughlin and Rhys Lloyd), and Ian Bibby were clear and all working hard to try and distance the yellow jersey.

The gap hovered around the 1.20 mark for a long time but then with 10k to go, the elastic snapped and the break’s lead went to two minutes and three by the finish. The yellow jersey was Camano’s but there was also a stage victory beckoning. A kilometre out and Bibby admits he started to switch from thinking about the overall to the stage win.

Pendragon’s Rhys Lloyd went early, jumping with 400 or 500 metres to go and  Partridge promptly jumped on his wheel followed by Bibby. It was a long sprint and Bibby could feel the other two tying up and so with 250 to go, he jumped down the right because of the crosswind and opened up a gap to cross the line, cramping but victorious.

Ian admitted afterwards that because of problems with his back early season, the win did feel really good, even better than the one the year before and it gives him a lot of confidence. Bibby had begun the day fifth overall and knew the Soler climb would play a big part in the race. Not just the climb up but also the descent down it.

The race had gone over the Soler the day before but the side they climbed on stage 3, said Bibby, suited him much better. “The climb today was a lot steeper with quite a lot of hairpins which I preferred because I have been struggling with a back problem which is not great on a long constant climb whereas today, I was able to get out of the saddle and attack the hairpins.”

Once the break had formed, everyone worked solidly says Bibby. “From about 50k out, we all rode to stay away. Everyone was working and I thought I was riding into second overall but there was a rider in there just above me on GC so I’m third now.”

Ian now starts the final stage on Saturday in the Points jersey and says that he can see the race staying together on what is a rolling stage with no real difficulties.

Good day for Endura Racing
While the stage win was great for Motorpoint, the day also belonged to Endura who had a rider in the break all day (Partridge) and then saw their main man for GC, Iker Camano ride a very smart race. The riders are racing in Majorca without race radios which means, says their director sportif Julian Winn, they do have to think and focus more on what is happening.

Camano did just that, making his effort count on the Soler and coming away with the yellow jersey. “Iker knows Majorca very well and the climbs” Winn  explained. “We thought from the word go he could win this race. He has good morale and he’s over the moon to be in Yellow. He’s finding his feet as a bike rider again and is a great guy to work with“.

Winn admits they knew Bibby was favourite for the stage but that with Yellow beckoning, they weren’t at all worried because it was the jersey they were riding for. “Iker and Rob both buried themselves today for the jersey” he said afterwards.

Post stage and Iker leads by around 38 seconds with Bibby at 58 seconds but the final stage says Winn should be straightforward. “It’s a rolling stage but anything can happen so we have to be on the ball and maybe with Motorpoint where they are overall, that may work in our favour as well as they look to hold position. Normally it’s a bunch sprint and that will do us nicely.”

Endura have six riders left to control the race and one of those is Rob Hayles. “He’s  good at getting around the bunch and is a real good leader on the road  because of his experience. He can be calm as well as motivate the riders so he‘ll be a key man tomorrow“ says Winn.

Finally, there has been a lot of talk about the number of British riders in the race so the final question to Winn was whether this has affected the way the stages have been raced. “No” was the reply with Julian explaining that with the bulk of the field made up of Spanish riders, the racing is as continental as ever.

Meanwhile, Yellow jersey Iker Camaño speaking on the team website said “We had another really hard day today, we rode around 47km in the first hour and everybody wanted to be in the break. I spoke with Rob Partridge during the stage because today the break would arrive at the finish line. Rob is a perfect rider to do this job. A few km after our conversation Rob was in the break! The race leader was working in the peloton and before the Coll de Soller climb Joker Merida made a move in the front on the peloton. [Belda] hadn’t riders in the first group but in the mountain nobody made a move. I know that climbing [Belda] was the strongest but I saw that in the descent he lost positions. I spoke with Valjavec to make a fast descent and in the last part we took Rob and his group.”

“The rest was easy, we had to work together to arrive with a big difference. Rob made a really great stage, he could win, but he worked really hard and has forgot his possibilities of a victory for me and for the GC. Today we worked as a big team. The lead was around a minute and a half at the Coll de Soller, but by the finish line we got 3 minutes. With this difference we are leading the teams classification too. We are really happy!!!”

The ‘Boss’ Delighted
The final word however must come from the boss of Motorpoint, Phil Griffths. “Delighted, delighted“ was his reaction to Bibby‘s victory. “Majorca is a special place for us. Russ has won three stages and Bibby won last year. Four years we’ve always won something in Majorca.  It is one of our favourite training grounds, we know the roads so today has been very special.”

After being flicked from some early season stage races, Phil’s advice to his riders was they’ll be so hungry to win that when they do race, they’ll make up for it and certainly this week, they have done that on the international stage.

Griffiths admits that losing Ed Clancy was a big loss at the end of 2010 and Tennant too, but that this year’s squad is the strongest road team he has ever put together. He was also dismissing the bad luck the team have had recently saying “That’s bike racing. We’ve had a five year run and no serious problems touch wood. You do have to cringe for the riders but take it on the chin and move on.”

Asked about Ian Bibby and what type of rider he is, “Phil says “He’s multi talented but needs to hang around and get more consistent with the wins. He’s capable of riding at the highest level but we need to see more consistency from him.”

“I said to Bibby, ‘you win a stage in every overseas UCI race we send you to and you’ll get your pro contract‘. He needs to win stages and the GC would be a big bonus. We’ll see but the lad is doing the right things.”

It is very special to win overseas says the team boss but he also admits that the  Premier Calendar is getting tougher and tougher and that you need to be the sort of rider Bibby is to take on the British calendar.

Final word was for Andrew Magnier (Motorpoint). He crashed out of the Dengie Marshes and broke his collarbone. Motorpoint didn’t hang around though giving him the best chance of getting back on the bike quickly by promptly sending him to the Team Sky doctor for treatment. ‘Maggs’ as Griffith called him, will be having some plate work done on his shoulder and elbow shortly and like Peter Williams who has also suffered a heavy fall, they are expected to be fit for the Tour Series midway through May.

Final note, The top three teams on the stage were all British headed by Pendragon-LeCol-Colnago and Richard Handley tops the mountain competition.

RESULTS

Stage 3
1 BIBBY, Ian GBR 25 MOTORPOINT 3:21:46
2  HOFFMAN, Erik NAM 30 ACTIVITY RACING TEAM 3:21:46 m.t.
3 OBERHOLZER, Bernhard SUI 26 PRICE – CUSTOM BIKES 3:21:46 m.t.
4 MCLAUGHLIN, James GBR 21 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 3:21:46 m.t.
5 KUENZLI, Raymond SUI 27 EKZ RACING TEAM 3:21:46 m.t.
6 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO 34 MANISASPOR CYCLING TEAM 3:21:46 m.t.
7 CAMAÑO ORTUZAR, Iker ESP 32 ENDURA RACING 3:21:46 m.t.
8 LLOYD, Rhys GBR 22 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 3:21:46 m.t.
9 PARTRIDGE, Robert GBR 26 ENDURA RACING 3:21:46 m.t.
10 BIALOBLOCKI, Marcin POL 28 MOTORPOINT 3:24:45 +02:59

12 TOBYN, Horton GBR 25 MOTORPOINT 3:24:47 +03:01
18 THWAITES, Scott GBR 21 ENDURA RACING 3:24:47 +03:01
19 BARKER, Yanto GBR 31 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 3:24:47 +03:01
22 CLARKE, David GBR 32 ENDURA RACING 3:24:47 +03:01
32 TIERNAN-LOCK, Jonathan GBR 27 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:24:47 +03:01
34 DEMPSTER, Zakkari AUS 24 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:24:47 +03:01
36 SAMPSON, James GBR 25 MOTORPOINT 3:24:47 +03:01
47 MCEVOY, Jonathan GBR 22 MOTORPOINT 3:24:47 +03:01
48 HOLOHAN, Liam GBR 23 TEAM RALEIGH 3:24:47 +03:01
52 HANDLEY, Richard GBR 21 TEAM RALEIGH 3:24:47 +03:01
59 OPIE, Chris GBR 24 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 3:32:03 +10:17
66 HAILE, Dawit ERI 24 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 3:32:03 +10:17
87 TENNANT, Andrew GBR 24 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:32:11 +10:25
88 WINDSOR, Dean AUS 25 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:32:11 +10:25
94 HOUSE, Kristian GBR 32 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:32:11 +10:25
97 CLANCY, Edward GBR 26 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:32:11 +10:25
98 SPARLING, James CAN 27 TEAM RALEIGH 3:32:11 +10:25
99 JONES, Matthew GBR 22 TEAM RALEIGH 3:32:11 +10:25
106 CRONSHAW, Mathew GBR 23 TEAM RALEIGH 3:34:16 +12:30
111 ELLIOTT, Malcolm GBR 50 MOTORPOINT 3:34:16 +12:30
125 WILKINSON, Callum GBR 23 ENDURA RACING 3:34:16 +12:30
146 PARNES, Ryan USA 27 TEAM RALEIGH 3:40:04 +18:18
147 HAYLES, Robert GBR 38 ENDURA RACING 3:40:04 +18:18
148 KIPLING, Matthew GBR 29 TEAM RALEIGH 3:40:04 +18:18
152 MOZLEY, Jonathan GBR 24 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 3:40:04 +18:18
161 CRAVEN, Dan NAM 28 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 3:40:09 +18:23

ABN MARTÍN, Jake GBR 19 PENDRAGON – LE COL –

OVERALL
1 CAMAÑO ORTUZAR, Iker ESP 32 ENDURA RACING 7:06:51 97
2 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO 34 MANISASPOR CYCLING TEAM 7:07:23 +32 54
3 BIBBY, Ian GBR 25 MOTORPOINT 7:07:49 +58 83
4 KUENZLI, Raymond SUI 27 EKZ RACING TEAM 7:08:17 +01:26 10
5 MCLAUGHLIN, James GBR 21 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 7:08:20 +01:29 66
6 BELDA MIRA, Jose ESP 36 GUEROLA – VALENCIA TERRA I MAR 7:09:37 +02:46 98
7 WILMANN, Frederik NOR 26 JOKER MERIDA 7:10:02 +03:11 24
8 BIALOBLOCKI, Marcin POL 28 MOTORPOINT 7:10:58 +04:07 29
9 HOFFMAN, Erik NAM 30 ACTIVITY RACING TEAM 7:11:03 +04:12 37
10 PARTRIDGE, Robert GBR 26 ENDURA RACING 7:11:10 +04:19 40

14 CLARKE, David GBR 32 ENDURA RACING 7:11:18 +04:27 44
17 LLOYD, Rhys GBR 22 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 7:11:56 +05:05 68
20 MCEVOY, Jonathan GBR 22 MOTORPOINT 7:14:07 +07:16 76
22 TIERNAN-LOCK, Jonathan GBR 27 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:14:13 +07:22 33
31 SAMPSON, James GBR 25 MOTORPOINT 7:14:47 +07:56 84
32 HOLOHAN, Liam GBR 23 TEAM RALEIGH 7:14:51 +08:00 44
38 TOBYN, Horton GBR 25 MOTORPOINT 7:21:35 +14:44 5
40 SPARLING, James CAN 27 TEAM RALEIGH 7:21:38 +14:47 75
42 HOUSE, Kristian GBR 32 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:21:46 +14:55 64
59 THWAITES, Scott GBR 21 ENDURA RACING 7:24:20 +17:29 3
61 DEMPSTER, Zakkari AUS 24 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:25:35 +18:44 20
62 HANDLEY, Richard GBR 21 TEAM RALEIGH 7:25:38 +18:47 16
66 BARKER, Yanto GBR 31 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 7:29:01 +22:10 35
73 CRAVEN, Dan NAM 28 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:29:36 +22:45 49
74 HAILE, Dawit ERI 24 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 7:29:59 +23:08 32
87 TENNANT, Andrew GBR 24 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:32:45 +25:54 72
89 CLANCY, Edward GBR 26 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:32:51 +26:00 15
90 JONES, Matthew GBR 22 TEAM RALEIGH 7:32:55 +26:04 59
91 WINDSOR, Dean AUS 25 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7:33:15 +26:24 92
99 ELLIOTT, Malcolm GBR 50 MOTORPOINT 7:35:20 +28:29 37
100 CRONSHAW, Mathew GBR 23 TEAM RALEIGH 7:35:25 +28:34 82
102 WILKINSON, Callum GBR 23 ENDURA RACING 7:35:30 +28:39 19
140 OPIE, Chris GBR 24 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 7:43:19 +36:28 17
141 PARNES, Ryan USA 27 TEAM RALEIGH 7:43:53 +37:02 55
142 HAYLES, Robert GBR 38 ENDURA RACING 7:44:18 +37:27 20
146 KIPLING, Matthew GBR 29 TEAM RALEIGH 7:44:54 +38:03 65
157 MOZLEY, Jonathan GBR 24 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 7:49:47 +42:56 67

STAGE TEAM
1 PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO GBR 10:08:19
2 ENDURA RACING GBR 10:08:19 m.t.
3 MOTORPOINT GBR 10:11:18 02:59
14 RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP GBR 10:21:45 13:26
16 TEAM RALEIGH GBR 10:21:45 13:26

OVERALL TEAM
1. ENDURA RACING GBR 21:29:04
2. MOTORPOINT GBR 21:32:54 03:50
3. MANISASPOR CYCLING TEAM TUR 21:33:12 04:08

7. PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO GBR 21:41:46 12:42
9. RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP GBR 21:49:32 20:28
15. TEAM RALEIGH GBR 22:01:08 32:04

POINTS
1  BIBBY, Ian GBR MOTORPOINT 55
2  CAMAÑO ORTUZAR, Iker ESP ENDURA RACING 48
3  BELDA MIRA, Jose ESP GUEROLA – VALENCIA TERRA I MAR 39

5  BIALOBLOCKI, Marcin POL MOTORPOINT 25
9  MCLAUGHLIN, James GBR PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 18
12 CLARKE, David GBR ENDURA RACING 12
18 LLOYD, Rhys GBR PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 8
19 PARTRIDGE, Robert GBR ENDURA RACING 7
20 TENNANT, Andrew GBR RAPHA CONDOR – SHARP 7

MOUNTAINS
1 HANDLEY, Richard TEAM RALEIGH 20
2 BELDA MIRA, Jose GUEROLA – VALENCIA TERRA I MAR 17
3 KASA, Gabor MANISASPOR CYCLING TEAM 12

6 CAMAÑO ORTUZAR, Iker ENDURA RACING 8
7 MCLAUGHLIN, James PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 8
8 PARTRIDGE, Robert ENDURA RACING 8
9 LLOYD, Rhys PENDRAGON – LE COL – COLNAGO 8

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