TalkingShop: Birthday Boy Jon Dibben

Jon Dibben (Hargroves Cycles) celebrated his 18th birthday by finishing 6th against the top riders in the country at the Perfs Pedal

Hargroves Cycles rider, Jon Dibben, who is part of the GB Olympic Development Squad, was sixth in today’s 47th Perfs Pedal road race in Hampshire. VeloUK asked for Jon’s report of the race. “It wasn’t too bad today” he started by saying. “It was cold but I got my clothing just right. The course was not as bad as last year, so it was an easier course.”

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“I didn’t do too much in the race and just sat in a bit. I didn’t know how my legs were going to be. You can be training well but when you get in a race, it can be a lot different.”

“I thought UK Youth were going to be more active than they were. They shut everything down and made they sure they had a rider in everything. But they didn’t really attack as much as I thought they would, especially at the end and that worked well for me. They just lined it out .”

“The harder bit of the course was the cliff along the top and I thought that was where it was going to go down on the last lap but we pretty much just rode along there, down the other side and then to the finish, they had all ten on the front. I was sat just behind McEvoy and Rowsell (Endura Racing) and I pretty much stayed there to the line”.

“They set such a good pace, that a lot were being shelled and I just hung in there in the pain box and as they peeled off, I moved up places.”

Being on restricted gears as a junior, 52×14, the downhill sections were an issue for some juniors who in the wind couldn’t go fast enough to keep up with the riders on the big gears. Jon meanwhile stayed in the wheels and held on to them over the fast sections. “I was quite pleased with a top at the finish really.”

Jon will be part of a strong Junior Hargroves Cycles team this year which has many of the country’s top juniors racing in the shops colours. Riding for Peter Hargroves will be Jon Dibben, Sam Lowe, Matt Wood, Matt Hargroves, and Joe Kirkham. “It’s going to be a good setup this year with a team car and everything.”

A lot of Jon’s goals will be GB events while of the races in Britain, his targets will be the Tour of Wales and the Nationals, also in Wales. The Team Pursuit at the Track Nationals will also be a big aim for the team and they are already thinking about the event and planning for it. “That was really good to win that” Jon says.

The stage winner from the Isle of Youth Tour says he’s had a good winter, racing for GB at a UIV Six Day on a 166 metre track which was interesting for him and he’s just had come back from a training camp with family and friends. His first big goal will be the Junior Paris Roubaix where the British team has such a good record with riders such as Geraint Thomas and Andy Fenn having won it in the past.

But the big news is that at Mountbatten (Portsmouth), he’ll be aiming to put a dent in Justin Hoys winning record around there … you’ve been warned Justin!

 

 

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