Team News: Raleigh Manager Satisfied with Teams Performance

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In their first race of 2014, a very much revamped Raleigh line-up took part in the Tour of the Med in their new retro colours

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Raleigh Manager Satisfied with Teams Performance

Whilst British rider Steve Cummings was stealing the headlines from his rivals in the Tour of the Med, British team Raleigh were having their first outing on new bikes, in new colours and with a  new line up of riders.

With the winter training camp only halfway through, the high ranking UCI 2.1  five-stage Tour of the Mediterranean wasn’t so much about overall glory for Team Raleigh but rather,  according to team manager Cherie Pridham, “about getting race conditioning, getting into breaks and trying for a stage win or a podium place.”

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Mark Christian, same team, new colours and new Militis bike, showing it off in a race long break in the Tour of Med.

Given their chance, Team Raleigh were keen to be ready to pounce on promising moves that mattered. That move didn’t come until the final 192km stage from Bandol to Toulon when Mark Christian and three other riders escaped the watch of the BMC led peloton and put many minutes between them and the their chasers.

The Isle of Man’s Mark Christian,  wearing the yellow, red and black of Raleigh, spent almost four hours off the front with Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Tom Dernies (Wallonie-Bruxelles) for company.

With Mont Faron expected to be the final batteground for the GC, the peloton were happy for the break to stay away for most of the stage and it wasn’t until 11km to go, only a few k from the final finish climb, that Mark and the break were brought back.

With Mark’s job done, it was the turn of new signing for Raleigh, Matthieu Boulo to do his best on the famous Med climb of Mount Faron. The Frenchman crossed the line in 32nd place, giving him an overall placing of 31st and the highest placed Raleigh rider.

Speaking after the finish of the stage, Team Manager Cherie Pridham said: “My objective for this race was to see what the boys could do against World Tour teams. The younger lads in particular needed this experience and responded well to everything I asked them to do.”

“Matthieu (Boulo) was climbing well so we worked to keep him out of trouble, ready for today’s Queen stage finish on Mont Faron. With such tightly controlled racing, I am very pleased with Wilko’s 16th place on Stage 3 and Mark’s exposure in the break on Stage 4.”

“We have a few things to work on and a few injuries to patch up before Haut Var later this month. Overall I’m super happy with the guys, today was a special day.”

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