Report – Tour Series Canary Wharf

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Tobyn Horton pips Chris Opie, as Rapha Condor JLT continue their Pearl Izumi Tour Series domination in London’s Canary Wharf round.

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Report – Tour Series Canary Wharf

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Tobyn Horton had his biggest win to date and a big goal, a round of the Tour Series in front of last years winner at Canary Wharf Chris Opie and a rider making a splash in the pro races, Alex Paton.

Rapha Condor JLT continued their dominance of the 2014 Pearl Izumi Tour Series with a fifth team win at Canary Wharf on Thursday night, but it was Madison Genesis’ Tobyn Horton hitting the headlines for his first individual win.

The Guernsey rider’s win also secured Madison Genesis’ first piece of individual glory, in their second season of racing in The Pearl Izumi Tour Series.

Horton headed Chris Opie in the final lap dash from an eight rider group around Canary Wharf’s 1-kilometre circuit, with the Cornishman taking the evening’s Costa Express Fastest Lap on the final tour.

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Felix English wins the bunch kick ahead of Ed Clancy to rack up another team win for Rapha Condor JLT.

Behind them, Alex Paton took Pedal Heaven Colbornes’ best individual result of The Pearl Izumi Tour Series, with third on the road, ahead of Marcin Bialoblocki and James McCallum, the latter on an emotional evening, as his final appearance in the Series ahead of retirement later on in 2014, following the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

For Paton third helped Pedal Heaven Colbornes to sixth on the night, and lifted them off bottom in the table to penultimate spot, sandwiched in a three-way tie with Great Britain and Starley Primal Pro Cycling, as the three squads rely on countback to separate them.

At the front no such measures are necessary, with Rapha Condor JLT now 18 points clear, with only 36 more available from Tuesday’s Woking event and Jersey’s double header final round.

The men in black, who have become the men in Pearl Izumi’s red and yellow since Round Two at Barrow, took their fifth team win of the 2014 Series, equalling their tally from 2010 and 2011, when John Herety’s team also won the overall title.

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It was the last Tour Series race for James McCallum who was given a spot out front for the start after being congratulated on his career by race direct Mich Bennett. James explained how he has ‘probably’ more Tour Series starts than most.

Behind them come Madison Genesis, who are now just two points ahead of Team Raleigh, although neither team faired particularly well in Canary Wharf, taking fourth, in the case of the latter, and fifth for the former.

With two riders in the front group of eight – Bialoblocki and George Harper – Node4 Velosure enjoyed their best result of 2014, taking second on the night, while another rider to again feature near the front was Great Britain’s Matthew Gibson, who took victory in Peterborough earlier in the Series.

Kristian House won the evening’s Sprints prize to move into second spot in the standings, 15 points adrift of NFTO’s Jon Mould, who was rested from the Canary Wharf race.

Tobyn Horton – “This is a win I have been chasing for a long long time and real happy to have finally got it!”

“I took Tuesday off to freshen up as I had a pretty bad week last week, and wasn’t feeling on top of it and it obviously did the trick. I attacked into the finishing corner about halfway through the race and went real hard all along the straight and the move stuck.”

“I then tried to sand bag a bit to save a little bit whilst showing my face at the front while keeping the legs fresh. With Raleigh so close to us in the team comp, I was keeping an eye on Yanto (Barker, Raleigh) in the break and he hit it into the last corner here with a lap to go. He’d done the same before and I’d pulled him back on the back straight by myself.”

“I had the confidence I could do it again and as soon I caught him on that last lap, I went over the top, and held on. I didn’t expect that win tonight after struggling last week but played by cards right.”

Earlier in the evening Horton’s Madison Genesis teammate Mike Northey had helped the Madison corporate team to victory in the traditional Canary Wharf Corporate Grand Prix pro-am, just ahead of Barclays and Metaltek Kuota, with Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and Team Raleigh taking third.

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First rider to get his hands in the air was New Zealand crit champion Mike Northey in the Corporate race.

Highlights of the Canary Wharf event are on ITV4 at 10pm on Friday 6th June, with a repeat on Saturday 7th June at 8.35am, and will be available on the ITV Player online for 30 days after broadcast.

Next week sees The Pearl Izumi Tour Series make its annual trip to Woking, with the Surrey town hosting Round Nine on Tuesday 10th June, alongside the final event of the women’s Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series.

Teams will then head to Jersey in the Channel Islands for a double header final round, encompassing a hill climb event and the traditional circuit race on Friday 13 June, as a part of the Jersey Festival of Cycling.

The weekend includes the Pearl Izumi Tour Ride coastal sportive on Saturday 14 June allowing amateur riders to ride the island, before the Pearl Izumi Jersey International Road Race on Sunday 15 June, which will see the professionals back in action for a 140-kilometre, ten lap road race.

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Adam Blythe of NFTO leads an early break that also had Mike Northey and Kristian House

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Felix English gets down low to speed round the corners

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An early faller was Dean Downing but he never lost any time and was straight back in the peloton although the holes in the skin suit told the story of the ‘get down’. 

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A good crowd at Canary Wharf

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Break was George Harper, Marcin Bialoblocki, Tobyn Horton, Alex Paton, Chris Opie, Matt Gibson, James McAllum, & Yanto Barker

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Winner ‘Tubs’ talks to coach Steve Benton

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Tobyn Horton of Madison Genesis on the podium after a very impressive victory.

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Kristian House in the Points jersey as leader Jon Mould was being rested.

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The shot that has to be done as the race cracks on through the skyscrapers.

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What a nice clean cut lad! Cornish star Chris Opie who got the fastest lap after a torrid time in Redditch, his first race back after illness.

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Olympic star Ed Clancy congratulates Tobyn Horton on his win.

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Junior James Shaw came into the race with a big reputation and he had a few digs off the front as he got stuck into the race with the pros.

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Another Junior that got stuck in was a winner of a round already, Matt Gibson who was in the break and went off the front of it for a short time with Alex Paton.

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Ed Clancy saved the bottle of champagne they got the team win and used it to celebrate when they came back on the podium as series leaders.

The Pearl Izumi Tour Series
Thursday 5 June 2014, Canary Wharf

Round Eight Team Result
1) Rapha Condor JLT
2) Node4 Velosure
3) NFTO Pro Cycling
4) Team Raleigh
5) Madison Genesis
6) Pedal Heaven Colbornes
7) Metaltek Kuota
8) Starley Primal Pro Cycling
9) Great Britain

Round Eight Individual Result
1) Tobyn Horton, GBR, Madison Genesis
2) Chris Opie, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT
3) Alex Paton, GBR, Pedal Heaven Colbornes
4) Marcin Bialoblocki, POL, Node4 Velosure
5) James McCallum, GBR, NFTO Pro Cycling
6) Matthew Gibson, GBR, Great Britain
7) George Harper, GBR, Node4 Velosure
8) Yanto Barker, GBR, Team Raleigh
9) Felix English, IRL, Rapha Condor JLT
10) Ed Clancy, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT

Round Eight Costa Express Fastest Lap: Chris Opie, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT
Round Eight Sprint Winner: Kristian House, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT
Canary Wharf Corporate Grand Prix Winners: Madison and Mike Northey, Madison Genesis

Overall Team Standings, post-Round Eight
1) Rapha Condor JLT, 96pts
2) Madison Genesis, 78pts
3) Team Raleigh, 76pts
4) NFTO Pro Cycling, 66pts
5) Node4 Velosure, 53pts
6) Metaltek Kuota, 42pts
7) Great Britain, 34pts
8) Pedal Heaven Colbornes, 34pts
9) Starley Primal Pro Cycling, 34pts

Overall Sprint Standings, post-Round Eight
1) Jon Mould, GBR, NFTO Pro Cycling, 60pts
2) Kristian House, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT, 45pts
3) Graham Briggs, GBR, Rapha Condor JLT, 42pts

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