Team News – Madison Genesis at CiCLE

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Despite moving and shaking the CiCLE Classic, bad luck denies Madison Genesis a result

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Team News – Madison Genesis at CiCLE

The team were once again in action over the weekend and this time our six rider selection had to tackle the difficult Rutland – Melton CiCLE Classic. Registered as a 1.2 international race (the opening international race of the British calendar), several teams from Europe had come over for what I’m sure was a huge shock to the system!

At just 179 km between the start in Oakham and the finish line in Melton Mowbray it certainly wasn’t the longest race on the calendar, however dotted along the route were several sections of gravel roads, many of which were in a very poor state of repair and would prove to be a tough test on both man and machine.

The opening two laps of Rutland reservoir should have provided the riders a gentle introduction to the race but the furious pace and crashes ensured the laps were more of an introduction to the chaos about to unfold.

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Madison Genesis were well represented in all of the early breaks but the good weather and very little wind meant the gaps never developed into anything dangerous and it was an almost complete peloton that made the all-important left-hand turn into the first narrow section after 55km.

Finally the elastic broke and a group found daylight between themselves and the peloton. Representing the team in the break was former mountain biker Tom Stewart who was very much enjoying the tough conditions. With over 30 different teams in the race and only five represented in the front group it was always going to be a tall order to stay away for over 100km but that didn’t deter their effort.

At one point their lead stretched to over a minute, but more importantly behind the pressure of the chase was causing chaos in the bunch with the 179 rider group being whittled down to a much more reasonable 40 riders with the entire Madison Genesis team at the front.

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All seemed to be going very much to plan until disaster struck. Sometimes lady luck shines and sometimes not. With a series of late punctures within the final six kilometres of the race for Mark McNally, Tom Scully and protagonist of the race Tom Stewart, the team was reduced to just Erick in the front group. Tom Scully and Mark McNally made a huge effort to get back into the fast moving front group but it was too late to recover for the bunch sprint.

Roger Hammond, Team Manager: “Today was just one of those days, the guys rode really well and we were very much the prominent team of the race, never missing a move and continuing where we left off in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago. However it just goes to show bad luck can change the face of a race. We can go home with our heads held high knowing the form is there and the guys are racing well together.”

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