Team News: Hargroves Cycles Weekend Race Roundup

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Hargroves Cycles rider and British champ Ian Field is 18th at the Tabor UCI World Cup and success for team at Rapha Supercross & Wessex League

It was yet another busy weekend for the Hargroves Cycles team with riders racing at a World Cup, Rapha Supercross and Wessex League once again.

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The big news for the weekend was Ian Fields second top 20 finish at World Cup level in as many weeks. Ian Finished 18th at Round 2 in Tabor after a tough fifth row grid position. This is a very promising start to the season for Ian and he will now be able to capitalise on this through better griddings.

Ian’s report on Round 2 of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup Round 2 – Tabor (Czech)
Having not gone to America to start the season this year to concentrate on the biggest races in the World here in Europe, my World ranking and therefore start position had taken a hammering. I had dropped from 33rd to 50th in the ranking update after the opening World Cup. This meant a 5th row start.

In the past I have used the poor gridding as an excuse to an average or poor ride however the reality is if you have good legs you can ride through. Yes you might expend a lot more energy getting to the same position after the opening few laps but there are no excuses for a poor result.

Travel hadn’t been the smoothest with the journey taking a couple of hours more than planned due to huge delays around Frankfurt which normally wouldn’t be a problem but when the journey is already 1,100km this begins to hurt. I eventually arrived Friday and had a good time on the course during practice finding a really good rhythm and tub setup.

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Race day came and we were greeted with warm conditions but the course was still really slippy in places and even muddy on the bottom half of the course. It’s a real fitness test of a course and I knew my legs were good from the previous weeks ride. The plan was to remain calm over the first lap and let people fight for position and waste energy for later in the race.

My 2nd and 3rd laps were good, I moved through rapidly and eventually got from late twenties on the opening lap to the group racing for 15th. Game on.

I settled into the group and tried to just hang in the wheels and hope I had something left for the finale. Mid race, there was a weird moment when Nys crashed and all of a sudden was on the head of our group. I was just about to prepare myself for the hottest laps of my life when I realised the pace had slowed. One by one we made our way past never to see the one of the greatest of all time again.

Come the final two laps, I thought I would be able to fight for the 14th position we were now racing for but it wasn’t to be. The non sprinters of the group wound the pace up from two to go and our group set some of the fastest lap times of the race towards the end. I got slightly held up jumping round a dropping rider and that was that, the wheels were lost and I came in for 18th place. Tired and happy I had got everything out.

This result has moved me up to 16th overall in the World Cup. The next round is nearly a month away now in the sand dunes of Koksijde. I really want to go well there with so many Brits normally making the trip every year. Another top 20 there would be really special, with a little part of me hoping for something really special!

Next up though is the Koppenberg Cross this Friday followed by the Superprestige in Zonhoven Sunday.

Hargroves Cycles RT in Britain
The Rapha Supercross Series came to a conclusion on Sunday at Alexandra Palace in North London and once again the Hargroves Cycles team faced stiff competition in slippery conditions and strong winds.

Jody Crawforth was our highest place rider battling Paul Oldham to finally finish 2nd on the day. Steve James suffered a bad start but battled his way up to finish a solid third making it two men on the podium for Hargroves. The team finished 2nd overall on the day, 2nd team outright and winners of the under 23 category.

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Matt Hargroves

In the Wessex League, Crispin Doyle continued his unbeaten run to win the Vets race at Round 8 at the War Memorial Park in Basingstoke. He then proceeded to race the Senior race and was just beaten on the line for 2nd place!

Check out the team’s website here: www.hargrovescyclesrt.co.uk

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