Report-Photos-Results: Tour Series – Aberystwyth (Wales)

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Ed Clancy won the round at Aberystwyth for the second time while Alex Blain (Raleigh) won the Sprints jersey and UK Youth defended their lead in the overall… 

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The Pearl Izumi Tour Series, Round Four Aberystwyth, Clancy rules supreme - Team UK Youth take two point lead in Pearl Izumi Tour Series after Round Four

The BIG ALBUM – over 200 pictures from round 4

Ed Clancy sprinted to victory in Aberystwyth, heading Chris Opie home who ensured Team UK Youth pulled out a two point lead at the top of The Pearl Izumi Tour Series standings.

Clancy and Opie were in a four rider break, with Team Raleigh’s Alexandre Blain and Madison Genesis’ Andy Tennant that almost lapped the field on the Aberystwyth circuit.

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After a bad start with a double puncture on the opening warmup laps, Olympic Champion Ed Clancy recovered, got in a break of four and then won the sprint to record his second win in Aberyswyth.

Opie has now finished as the runner-up in Aberystwyth for three consecutive years, while Clancy has now won twice from his three visits to Wales in the Series.
Organisers overcame inclement weather in the Welsh coastal resort with a revised circuit in the town centre to ensure the event went ahead, with the biggest crowds The Pearl Izumi Tour Series has seen in its three years in Aberystwyth.

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The low key celebration from Clancy as he crosses the line to win the race on Friday night.

Spectators were entertained by an attacking display of riding from the leading quartet who took flight early on in the race and pulled out a lead of almost one minute on the field, putting the peloton in a very real danger of being lapped.

Tobyn Horton and Alex Peters made a valiant attempt to bridge the gap to the leaders, but were reeled back in by the leaders. Blain tried to launch a winning attack with two to go but couldn’t escape the pace of his three compatriots and while Opie put in another, rapidly becoming trademark, massive turn on the final lap it was the Rapha Condor JLT rider that powered out of the final corner.

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Kristian House, a former British RR Champion, can ride a mean crit and wins the bunch kick for fifth ahead of Dean Downing while the red jerseys of UK Youth can be seen sprinting to a team win, four in the top 10. 

Consolation for Blain was the IG Sprints jersey, which he took over from teammate Tom Scully, while Clancy’s final lap was enough to give him the Costa Express Fastest Lap, breaking UK Youth’s run of straight victories in the new competition.

Madison Genesis took second on the night with Dean Downing and Liam Holohan’s top ten’s helping them to the runner-up spot ahead of Team Raleigh. Following their impressive result in Stoke-on-Trent Metaltek – Knights of Old continued their fine run of form with fifth in Aberystwyth, ensuring they sit comfortably in sixth in the standings.

Spin Rotor – Primal – C-Originals enjoyed their best Pearl Izumi Tour Series result of their debut season with a ninth, while MG Maxifuel’s youngster Joe Fox made his own personal Series debut, on a good night for the Fox family, as young brother Danny took a podium finish in the supporting 2/3/4 race.

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Race gets underway with the start finish in the town centre after being moved away from the seafront battered by strong wins in the morning. In the end it was a gorgeous evening in the Welsh town.

Ed Clancy talking after the race said “It was a relatively uneventful race for me. Once that group was established, the four of us, everyone was doing lap turns lap after lap. Everyone was happier to work, some happier than others. I was trying to pull good turns because I was quite happy for it to come down to a sprint between the four of us and stay away from the bunch”.

“Two laps out was where it really kicked off. I missed a turn about four laps to go and Blain and Opie are both stronger than me aerobically so they had to get rid of me on the last two laps and they did.”

 

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The race is strung out into a snaking line along the sea front into a strong headwind.

“Blain went and that was hard following him so I left a bit of a gap and I was waiting for Opie to go or Tennant (a teammate of Eds in the GB Team Pursuit), surprised he didn’t try something. It was hard following Chris (Opie). He’s been going well and we saw that in Stoke and I tried to hold him at a gap, something I could sprint into but unfortunately Blain filled that gap on that corner.”

“I thought, that’s fine, it was a clean move but it made it a bit more difficult because I had to come round both of them so I went to the opposite side of the road and tried to get some shelter from the barriers from the wind.”

“Once I was in front of Chris, I was confident going into the last corner providing I kept it upright and it was a good race. The first week of the Tour Series is hard and I felt pretty crap but felt more like myself at Stoke and today was good.”

About the changed circuit, he says “when I got here, I had a look around the circuit and I thought this is going to be hard work but it was going to be one for me because it’s quite technical & stop start. Once we got in the break, there was less of the stop start and it was quite smooth and all of four of us are competent bike riders.”

“If you can make the corners a few k an hour faster, it is so much easier.”

“Blain in particular was going round the corners like he was on rails, he was hardly using his brakes, even on that hairpin and that makes the effort smooth and almost like riding a team time trial. Tour Series is a great series and everyone enjoys getting a win!”

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After some short lived breaks, a four up move of Chris Opie (UK Youth), Andy tennant, Ed Clancy and Alex Blain (Raleigh) got away and whilst it got close to lapping the second group on the road, it never managed to close the gap on the circuit which took a little over a minute to cover. 

Tom Scully (Team Raleigh) “The one straight we had on this circuit, was into a roaring headwind where it was hard to move up. The circuit was pretty tight and a hard course to ride but a good course. The form is good, it’s only round four so there’s a long way to go and it’s good fast exciting racing”.

“I’m enjoying racing here in Britain. There is a lot of passion in the UK racing, its hard and fast from the start and they give it everything so that is what makes the racing good.”

Asked if they have anything like this in New Zealand , he replied “every year we have a festival of cycling and they have a criterium and a one day road race around the bay and hills of Christchurch and it’s probably as close as it gets to this”.

“It’s always good to have a crowd to race in front of and good to go to a different town each night and see a bit of the country while we are here.”

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In the second half of the race, Tobyn Horton (UK Youth)  went clear by a few seconds with Alex Peters but despite holding the chasers at bay for quite a few laps, they were caught.

TEAM WIN FOR UK YOUTH

Chris Opie (UK Youth, Second): Speaking afterwards and asked was it fun like he said it might be before the race, Chris replied “Yes, it was fun! I got to be honest, to have so many people cheering for us – come on Chris, come on UK Youth – that was pretty special”.

“The break rode away, not sure how it happened and at one point we were convinced that we were going to lap everyone and started to lap the smaller groups. The bunch must have accelerated though and we had to accelerate as well and it was harder for the last twenty minutes.”

Asked if his attack a lap to go was too early, he replied “ultimately, it probably was too early. I thought if I went early, I might be able to get a gap through the corners and build on it. As it was, I got a gap, but couldn’t build on it and it stayed there until 100 metres before the pits (on the final corner) and they kept passing me.”

I thought I was going to get back at them but not quite so second for the third year in a row!”

Talking about the hairpin where there were a lot of crashes, he said “I took it rather gingerly though that corner remembering that I have fallen off in the Tour Series before and it’s crucial to stay upright to get the points and ultimately, the team result is more important than the individual result. Playing safe but not sorry.”

“The hairpin was definitely the hot spot on the corner, off camber, a big old corner but I got to be honest, that was a real fun circuit. Years ago I would have hated it but now, I really enjoyed it with my sticky tyres and fast corners; good fun.”

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 The peloton makes its way around the sweeping hairpin with the castle, church and university in the background.

Tobyn Horton (UK Youth): The Guernsey rider had tried to put pressure on his rivals in the second half of the race and then at the end, did a massive turn at the front to set up his teammates for the bunch sprint. “I felt good out there tonight” he explained.

“Once the break was gone, everyone had someone up there so it was a bit cat and mouse in the peloton. No-one was going to chase it to bring it back and a few riders put attacks in and I got a gap for four or five laps. I just kept the pressure on to make Raleigh chase.”

“I wasn’t too much into the red and then coming into the finish having been caught, I thought it would be best for me to lead it out. I took it up for the last six or seven laps because I knew I was going to be tired having been out there in the break and it worked out well.”

“On the final laps, I was on the front and the circuit is so tight, that you are pretty much working as hard at the front as you are in second, third and so on down the line so I was kicking hard out of the bends into the headwind so the elastic band effect got harder and harder for those behind.”

“I’d then recover down the hill and do the same again so it was alright. On the last lap, I nailed it coming out of the second to last corner onto the flat and Deano (Dean Downing) and Kristian (House) came round us and Jon (Mould) and Niklas (Gustavsson) were up there for UK Youth so it was perfect for the team.”

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There were some quite spectacular crashes on the sweeping right hander. Here Hugh Wilson somersaults over James McCallum.

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A lap out and Chris Opie (UK Youth) gaps Ed Clancy but the Olympic champion  managed to hold the gap and get to the final corner first to win the race and relegate Opie into second for the third time in a row in this event.

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Winner of the IG Sprints on the night was Alex Blain who took the Gold jersey off his Raleigh teammate Tom Scully

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Team winners on the night were UK Youth who opened up a two point lead on Team Raleigh in second.

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Winner of the 2/3/4 support race was Jack Sadler (Junior) who rides for valued sponsor of VeloUK, VanillaBikes.com. Danny Fox of another valued sponsor of VeloUK, RST Clothing/Trigon Bikes, was third and his brother Joe rode well later for MG-Maxifuel later in the pro race. We’ll bring you results when we get them.

Provisional Results

 Round Four Aberystwyth, Individual Result

1) Ed Clancy, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT
2) Chris Opie, GBR, Team UK Youth
3) Alexandre Blain, FRA, Team Raleigh
4) Andy Tennant, GBR, Madison Genesis
5) Kristian House, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT
6) Dean Downing, GBR, Madison Genesis
7) Jon Mould, GBR, Team UK Youth
8) Niklas Gustavsson, SWE, Team UK Youth
9) Tobyn Horton, GBR, Team UK Youth
10) Liam Holohan, GBR, Madison Genesis

Round Four Aberystwyth, Team Result

1) Team UK Youth
2) Madison Genesis
3) Team Raleigh
4) Rapha Condor JLT
5) Metaltek – Knights of Old
6) Team IG Sigma Sport
7) Node4 Giordana Racing
8) MG Maxifuel
9) Spin Rotor – Primal – C-Originals
10) Team Hope Factory Racing

Team Standings, post-Round Four
1) Team UK Youth, 36pts
2) Team Raleigh, 34pts
3) Madison Genesis, 33pts
4) Rapha Condor JLT, 29pts
5) Node4 Giordana Racing, 24pts
6) Metaltek – Knights of Old, 20pts
7) MG Maxifuel, 13pts
8) Team IG Sigma Sport, 13pts
9) Team Hope Factory Racing, 12pts
10) Spin Rotor – Primal – C-Originals, 5pts

IG Sprints winner Round Four Aberystwyth: Alexandre Blain, FRA, Team Raleigh

Costa Express Fastest Lap Aberystwyth: Ed Clancy, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT, 1:10

IG Sprints standings, post-Round Four

1) Alexandre Blain, FRA, 26pts
2) Tom Scully, NZL, 24pts
3) Kristian House, GBR, 20pts
4) Felix English, IRL, 12pts
5) Chris Opie, GBR, 11pts

You can also catch the action on ITV4 – click here to find out when its on the box …

Click here to read about last year’s event won by Kristian House

Live Photos (internet permitting)

 

Live Text Updates

The Pearl Izumi Tour Series takes place at the following dates & locations:
1 – Round One Tuesday 14th May Kirkcaldy, Fife

2 – Round Two Thursday 16th May Durham, County Durham

3 -Round Three Tuesday 21st May Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
(includes women’s Johnson Health Tech GP Series)

4 -Round Four Friday 24th May Aberystwyth, Ceredigion

5 -Round Five Tuesday 28th May Torquay, Devon

6 -Round Six Thursday 30th May Colchester, Essex
(includes women’s Johnson Health Tech GP Series)

7 -Round Seven Tuesday 4th June Redditch, Worcestershire
(includes women’s Johnson Health Tech GP Series)

8 -Round Eight Thursday 6th June Canary Wharf, London

9 -Round Nine Tuesday 11th June Woking, Surrey
(includes women’s Johnson Health Tech GP Series)

10 – Round Ten Thursday 13th June Aylsham, Norfolk
(includes women’s Johnson Health Tech GP Series)

Round Eleven Friday 14th June Ipswich, Suffolk

The Teams for 2013 doing all ten rounds are: (click for rider list)
— Rapha Condor JLT,
— Team UK Youth,
— Team Raleigh,
— NODE 4 Giordana Racing,
— MG – Maxifuel Pro Cycling,
— IG Sigma Sport,
— Metaltek – Knights of Old Racing Team,
— Team Hope Factory Racing,
— Madison Genesis,
— Spin Rotor – Primal – Coriginals

Note: each round will have a guest team or two. (click for rider list)

Past winners of this unique competition include Team Halfords Bikehut (2009), Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta (2010), Rapha Condor Sharp (2011) and Endura Racing (2012).

Related Link: A look back at the 2012 Tour Series here 

 

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