Report/Photos Tour Series – Colchester (Essex)

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Team UK Youth stretch their Pearl Izumi Tour Series lead as an individual win for Jon Mould in Colchester helps UK Youth to fourth team victory

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Jon Mould took the biggest win of his career to date, clinching victory in Colchester’s Pearl Izumi Tour Series round to give his UK Youth squad both the individual and team wins on the night.

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Winner of the Men’s race was Jon Mould (UK Youth) who after an attack to reduce the lead group from three to two (Roman van Uden dropped), he then outsprinted Australian Richard Lang (Team Raleigh)

The Welshman headed breakaway companions Richard Lang and Roman Van Uden, the latter who was tailed off in the closing laps, to take his first Pearl Izumi Tour Series win.

Behind the break Tobyn Horton led in the main field for fourth, with that and Niklas Gustavsson’s eighth helping UK Youth to another, narrow, win, ahead of Raleigh who took second, fifth and seventh for their three counters.

Team UK Youth now enjoy a seven point lead at the top of the standings over Raleigh, who moved back into second place, one point in front of Series debutants Madison Genesis.

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Men’s race gets underway for two neutralised laps of one of the longest circuits in the series.

The break of Mould, Lang and Van Uden formed approaching the second IG Sprint and built a lead that eventually stretched to over a minute, from a peloton which was steadily reduced around the testing Essex circuit.

A well timed attack from Mould with a handful of laps to go shed Van Uden, with Lang dispatched commandingly in the long final sprint up Colchester’s gently rising High Street.

There was consolation for Raleigh as Tom Scully took the evening’s Costa Express Fastest Lap while Lang was the Round Six IG Sprint winner. Alexandre Blain, who was prevented from starting with a broken finger, lost his IG Sprints lead overall as Kristian House drew level on 37 points, with Scully one point further in arrears.

Highlights of Round Six in Colchester will be shown on ITV4 at 10pm on Friday 31st May, with a repeat at 6.25am on Saturday 1st June. Round Seven sees The Pearl Izumi Tour Series return to Redditch in Worcestershire for the second year, on Tuesday 4th June. Alongside the men the women’s Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series will make its debut at the Midlands venue, for Round Three of the Series.

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Jon Mould leads Richard Lang and Roman van Uden in a long break that saw chased down hard in the beginning but soon broke the elastic and the winning margin at the end was over a minute.

Afterwards, Jon was understandably very happy saying “this win is really up there with my others with the crowds here and everything. I have won quite a bit on the track like the European Madison Championship as a junior but on the road or the crit scene, it is really great to get a big win like this”.

The speed of the race early on was quite something especially up the hill through the centre of Colchester. Talking about the early part of the race, Jon explained “it was a really tough first 15 minutes, really hard to get in the break and get away. As soon as we got away, I thought the race was mine as I had the strongest legs and used them at the right time”.

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The pace up the long drag  in Colchester to the finish was blistering and as some one who was only inches from the riders at times, I can vouch for the speed they sprinted up that hill lap after lap… bloody awesome!

“It was a really good course. I’ve never ridden it before so the change didn’t affect me as I didn’t know any different. It was for sure a good course, a testing one, and it suited me better than a pan flat one.”

Asked about the strategy for the race, Jon replied “it was all about the team and to be the first team across the line and to work well together. It was a good situation for us to get a rider in a break and I was the lucky one who did it. I had the break to go for the win and the boys did the job behind.”

“The break worked well together with all three of us pulling quite equal turns and when the gap had gone out, we just kept our head down to keep the gap. I attacked with three laps to go and distanced Roman van Uden (Node 4 Giordana) and then it was just me and Richard (Lang, Raleigh) left.”

“In the finale, I went flat out from about 250 metres all the way.”

Asked if he is looking forward to Redditch (next Tuesday), Jon replied “yes but here in Team UK Youth, we have ten guys (those entered for the series) who can do the job that I am doing. Like Yanto has won two rounds, I have won one and the whole team is perfect.”

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Team UK Youth added another point to their series lead with a win in Colchester whilst Raleigh moved up to second with Madison – Genesis a point back.

Asked if he felt pressure when he sees teammates like Yanto winning races, Jon replied “all of us are capable of winning and I remember saying last week ‘I can’t wait for it to be my turn’ because all ten of us entered for the series are capable of winning. There is more competition within our team for places than anywhere else.”

“I was raring to go after being rested in Torquay. You watch them like I did in Torquay and you just want to be out there with them so when it’s your turn, you take full advantage and get stuck in.”

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Jon Mould takes the podium in his stride on another great night for his team.

Yanto Barker (UK Youth and a double winner (individual) in 2013 Series, was was one of the three highest placed Team UK Youth riders who helped the team to the big prize, the team award. Afterwards he said “it was absolutely perfect the way the race went.”

“With Madison second on GC missing the move it could not have been a better move for us. When it went, personally I was suffering a bit after I’d made a good lap effort earlier on that hurt a lot but once the break went, I was impressed”.

“There were five laps when the break hadn’t quite gone and I think their lead ranged between five and ten seconds at that time and I thought it’s going to snap any minute because everyone was under pressure. I know the references; I know the good guys and know what they are doing and the tell tale signs when they reach their limit.”

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Despite being equal on points with Alex Blain (Raleigh) it was Kristian House who was presented with the Sprints jersey due to the Frenchman not being able to race with a broken finger.

“You can feel when the pace is really on and everyone is on it and if the break doesn’t come back, then it’s gone. Tobyn (Horton) said he got halfway across when he went with Ian Bibby and said he could have gone all the way but realized, actually, that would have been worse and Raleigh would have stopped riding and it would have come back.”

“So he did exactly the right thing and once the gap went out, we were all pleased Mouldy was there and had a lot of confidence in him. In the peloton, Niklas, Tobyn and myself were totally glued together at the front of the group and made sure nothing left the island without us. ”

“We were never in any trouble and we brought it home.”

Asked if he felt Raleigh, who had a rider in the break and also were strong in the group, were a threat, Yanto replied “100 per cent a threat but they were the best team to be a threat because they weren’t second in the overall. We are coming up with the wins but it is never a given or taken for granted and we always work extremely hard.

“We know anything could wrong so we need to be on it. There is no taking the foot off the gas or any complacency…”

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 Winner of the Sprints in Colchester though was another Raleigh rider, Richard Lang.

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Raleigh’s  Tom Scully celebrates a Fastest Lap award

The Pearl Izumi Tour Series, Round Six Colchester, Provisional Results

Round Six Colchester, Individual Result

1. Jonathan Mould Team UK Youth
2. Richard Lang Team Raleigh
3. Roman Van Uden Node4 – Giordana Racing
4. Tobyn Horton Team UK Youth
5. Thomas Scully Team Raleigh
6. Yanto Barker Team UK Youth
7. Thomas Moses Team Raleigh
8. Niklas Gustavsson Team UK Youth
9. Dean Downing Madison Genesis
10. Richard Hepworth Node4 – Giordana Racing
11. Dan Barry Node4 – Giordana Racing
12. Liam Holohan Madison Genesis
13. Kristian House Rapha Condor JLT
14. Liam Stones MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
15. Ben Stockdale Metaltek – Knights of Old Raci
16. James McCallum Rapha Condor JLT
17. Steve Lampier Node4 – Giordana Racing
18. Jack Pullar Madison Genesis
19. Lachlan Norris Team Raleigh
20. Felix English Rapha Condor JLT

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

Team Standings, post-Round Six
1) Team UK Youth, 56pts
2) Team Raleigh, 49pts
3) Madison Genesis, 48pts
4) Rapha Condor JLT, 44pts
5) Node4 Giordana Racing, 36pts
6) Metaltek – Knights of Old, 29pts
7) MG Maxifuel, 27pts
8) Team IG Sigma Sport, 17pts
9) Team Hope Factory Racing, 15pts
10) Spin Rotor – Primal – C-Originals

IG Sprints winner Round Six Colchester: Richard Lang, AUS, Team Raleigh

Costa Express Fastest Lap Colchester: Tom Scully, NZL, Team Raleigh, 2:07

IG Sprints standings, post-Round Six
1) Kristian House, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT, 37pts
2) Alexandre Blain, FRA, Team Raleigh, 37pts
3) Tom Scully, NZL, Team Raleigh, 36pts

 

Click here to read about last year’s event won by Graham Briggs

Live Photos

Results
Coming …

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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