Talking Tour Series – Graham Briggs

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Talking to one of the star riders of the 2014 Pearl Izumi Tour Series so far, Graham Briggs who was 3rd in Peterborough on Tuesday night

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Talking Tour Series – Graham Briggs

Winner in Barrow and then 3rd in Peterborough, Graham Briggs (RCJ) is showing himself at the front of the race in a very fiercely aggressive way. The rider in the leading team in the series was one of the favourites for the round at Peterborough and after making the break, was undone by a young 17 year old GB rider called Matt Gibson.

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‘Brigga’ though was calm with the result when he spoke to the press after the podium presentations. He explained how he didn’t get a great start and how a position in the peloton can change very quickly. “I was at the front at the start and then found myself at the back so was chasing for the first ten minutes” he explained. “Then after getting to the front, I was watching for the right move and saw Scully go in a similar scenario to last week in Barrow.”

“You can’t give him an inch so a few went with him but the move came back and then I went and was away again. We got our heads down and worked well out front. Mike Northey was really strong towing us along on the dual carriageway and making us suffer.”

The key moment was when 17 year old Matt Gibson attacked over a lap to go. Talking us through that, Graham says “we all looked at each other when he went and hesitated and that was it. We were looking at each for the overall which is one of those things which lets the race go away from you so it was a question of mopping up the points behind the leader”.

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“So close to the end of the race, you see it in races where everyone is thinking, ‘I’m not going to waste my sprint chasing him’ and by the time everybody has looked each other, the moment has gone.”

As we watched the sprints through the lens, we could see Graham and Mike Northey were having a tussell. Asked what went on there, Graham, a lot calmer than in the heat of battle, explained “I was coming alongside Northey with about 150 to go and he closed the door and hopefully the judges saw it.” They did and whilst Northey was relegated to 4th, that change did little to the results.

On a positive note, the course at Peterborough was tweaked by race director Mick Bennett and the riders were full of praise for how flowing it was. “I love this this circuit” Graham said. “You come out onto the main road (with a ramp made especially for the race) and it opens up a little bit (dual carriageway) and if you have the horsepower, you can move up and it’s great coming through the city centre on the paving with the crowd shouting. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Graham spent the weekend away from racing, with a family day on Saturday and then riding in the hills on Sunday. On why he wasn’t racing, he says “I’m always putting pressure on myself if I race on weekends and while I wanted to do the Divs, you have to look at the bigger picture. I need to keep myself mentally fresh for the racing coming up in the next few weeks.”

“I just try and do at one three or four ride in a week and the rest takes care of itself with the racing.”

Good luck to Graham at Aberystwyth on Friday.

 

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