Team News – Busy week for Madison Genesis

2014_ContinentalGenericBanner

Two team wins for Madison Genesis leaves them in second place overall in the Tour Series after Stoke and Barrow

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Team News – Busy week for Madison Genesis

Round 2 – Barrow (Cumbria)
The Pearl Izumi Tour Series caravan continued its journey around the country stopping off for round two in the Cumbrian town of Barrow-in-Furness. As a debut venue for the Tour Series it was fantastic to see the number of enthusiastic spectators lining the 1.1km long circuit and really getting behind the event.

With a one hour plus five laps criterium, there was plenty of opportunity to see the riders, with action from the very first minute. It is always interesting to see the new circuits and how they are raced, on paper Barrow looked a simple loop with very little elevation and the majority of the circuit wide and flowing. However, as the riders found out, it also meant there was very little opportunity to recover under the barrage of attacks.

2014_TourSeries_Barrow_12

At the midway point it was still status quo, with none of the high-speed attacks able to create a gap big enough to last more than one lap. It was clear by the gaps forming at the back of the group that the speed was beginning to take its toll though – cueing the perfect time to launch.

With a blistering lap that only Graham Briggs could follow, Tom Scully formed the first decisive break of the day. The duo weren’t to have it all their own way though; NFTO, perfectly policed by the rest of the Madison Genesis team (Tennant, Horton, Peters and Northey) chased hard eventually catching the leaders with 10 minutes of racing to go, only to see Tom and Graham immediately attack again, this time riding to the finish.

A last lap attack by Tom for the individual win on the night looked good as he stormed passed the pits for the final time, however the long finishing straight was just a little too long with Graham catching Tom in the last metres to take the win.

In the remainder of the bunch, the rest of the team timed their run perfectly starting their sprint from the last corner en-mass. With Mike Northey 6th, Tobyn Horton 7th, Andy Tennant 10th and Alex Peters rounding the team off in 15th on the night, Madison Genesis took the team prize once again.

2014_TourSeries_Barrow_45

Team Manager – Roger Hammond “On a circuit that looked fairly innocuous, the race was blown to pieces and the team put in another fantastic performance. It was great to see Tom back to his incredible powerful self, equally important in this series though is how that individual is backed by his team mates. With the entire team in the top 15 the answer to that question is in the results!”

Round 1 Stoke on Trent
The 2014 and sixth edition of the Tour Series kicked off with a bang in the Potteries town of Stoke-on-Trent with drama from the off. In a diversion from the traditional format, the opening venue hosted two events on the same day – the opening round being a Team Time Trial followed later on in the evening by the more traditional city centre criterium.

Time Trials are always difficult to gauge and, more often than not, the conditions that teams or riders have to deal with change during the course of the event; yesterday was no exception. Madison Genesis were the second team to set off and with the roads still drying from the earlier showers it was always going to be a nervous Time Trial on the tight twisting urban circuit.

With the rules stating that the finish time was given on the third rider across the line, Andy Tennant set off with the intention of riding the first of the two laps flat out and sacrificing himself for the remaining four riders to finish the Time Trial off.

2014_TourSeriesStoke_TeamRoundRace2

However, at the bottom of the first fast descent on the first lap, the riders were confronted by the general public on the circuit at an official crossing point. We can only suppose the marshals had no idea that five riders were hurtling around the circuit at 40mph plus. All the riders made the instinctive reaction to brake, losing valuable speed and momentum just before the long grind back up to the finish line.

When this happened for a second time the riders lost all confidence of what they would find around the next corner, but they soldiered on and posted a very respectable time despite the issue and a complaint was lodged. In the end, the result stood but despite the amount of preparation we put in, I am happy the riders chose for their safety and that of the public over a fast time.

With four hours to churn over the earlier events, it was a very determined Madison Genesis team that lined up for the criterium later in the day. From the off, the team rode aggressively covering every move until eventually a group of ten riders prized themselves clear. A quick assessment of the group showed it was a great move so the team pushed on until the group had established a sizable lead with Andy Tennant and Tom Scully policing the chasing bunch.

Madison Genesis (the only team with the all-important three riders in the front – Alex Peters, Mike Northey and Tobyn Horton) had put themselves in the driving seat, however both NFTO and Rapha Condor JLT could, in theory at least, still win. As with previous Tour Series years, the team event is the most important so when Jon Mould attacked, the guys concentrated on making sure they grouped near the front of the race covering all the counter attacks including that of Team Time Trial winning team rider, Kristian House.

Entering into the final laps of the race, Jon Mould was ahead of a three man group which included Alex and Tobyn, with our third counter Mike Northey controlling the remainder of the original breakaway. In the frantic sprints to the line Alex and Tobyn both finished ahead of Kristian to claim second and third place on the night, leaving Mike to finish a brilliant second place in his group sprint for seventh place on the night. More than enough to give the team the victory in Stoke.

Team Manager – Roger Hammond “After the disaster of the Team Time Trial, it was really pleasing to see the riders come out and show what they were capable of in the criterium. With a very calculated ride, they really showed they had both the power and the presence of mind to engineer a race winning scenario in what was a very complicated night of racing. I’m really proud of how the riders once again fought to the end, even the non-counting riders – Andy Tennant and Tom Scully, pulling off very fast finish to make sure they took as many of the points from the rival teams. It was a fantastic team performance, resulting in our first tour series win!”

 

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: