Post Race Chat: Jon Mould & Chris Opie

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After two wins in two races in the Pearl Izumi Tour Series by One Pro Cycling, VeloUK talks to Chris Opie and Jon Mould plus words from Yanto Barker too

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Post Race Chat: Yanto Barker, Jon Mould & Chris Opie

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As starts to a series go, the team wins in the first two races of the 2015 Pearl Izumi Tour Series could not be any better for One Pro Cycling. And with two of their closest rivals having teams in the Irish RAS in the next week, that may well help them more in the coming rounds in Redditch and Aberystwyth next week.

Prior to the race, the One Pro Cycling team were putting out messages that ‘it is all about the team’ and Chris Opie underlined that when talking about their first win after the team time trial.”In these conditions, that was one of the most impressive things I have been involved in” he told VeloUK.

“To do those two laps like that and to get around safely most importantly, was great. It was quite slippery in places. I think we were all quite nervous this morning and even more nervous after the ride waiting for everyone else to finish. The hard bit starts now though”.

The talk pre team time trial among the teams was managing that fine line between going fast and not falling off on the wet patches on a course with brand new tarmac which also had oil slicks in patches. Asked how One Pro Cycling managed that fine line, Chris explained “It was as close to going flat out as possible”.

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“I don’t know where we could have changed anything and it hurt the whole time and it took a long time for the pain to disappear afterwards. There was a big freewheel section on the down hill so you get a little recovery before the next two thirds of the track which is all uphill or at least that is what it feels like.”

I watched them as they came round and hit the hill on their warm down lap and they were all well and truly gassed, the eyes and open mouths saying it all. They got it all out for sure!

It wasn’t very fast though as Chris said. “I think we averaged 25mph which isn’t very quick even from a standing start. I didn’t think the climb was going to be that bad until we did that team time trial. I think it is probably one of the more severe ones in the Tour Series”.

“It’s not like Durham, that is a completely different race but possibly harder than Redditch and a little bit longer than that one”.

Looking ahead, Chris explained “Now we have to prove ourselves for the next five weeks and there will be no easy days now. The real hard bit starts and working together as a team, I know we’ll get through it. We just have to avoid anything going wrong. That is the main thing …”

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Yanto Barker
“That’s as good as it gets” explained Yanto Barker afterwards. “It was a hard race, probably one of the hardest crits I have ever done and the others were saying the same when they got back to the bus”.
“We’re really happy obviously as we had to overcome a lot out there. There was a lot of wet roads and a lot of danger and that climb every time was really hard. We’re just pleased to have all our riders in the front group. It’s a team game out there. You could attack and get ten seconds but put one of your teammates out the back who loses a minute…”

Jon Mould
One rider who had to change his game from last year was Jon Mould. He was a winner of three rounds last year when with NFTO but this time it’s all about the team.

In the crit, Jon was one of five riders from One Pro Cycling to make that lead selection and he said afterwards “It’s nice to have a share of the win like I did with UK Youth in 2013. It’s amazing to have all five of us in that group today. When ever you turned round and looked at riders, everyone was on their knees and it was probably one of the hardest ones we have done.”

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Chris Opie finishes 4th behind Jonny McEvoy but crucially has all four of this teammates behind him in the lead group

“The hill was certainly a lot harder than what it looked like on paper and it was the over the top you really noticed it especially if some one attacked. Madison were on a good night and they were sending guys up the road and we were covering it and when we knew we had five guys in that lead group, we knew we had the advantage”.

Talking about the difference between the team game and the individual one, Jon explained “In situations like that you don’t want to attack and put one of your teammates out the back. The team game is a lot different to riding for the individual and you have a lot more to think about”.

“You are having to look after the four other guys. It’s not easy when it’s a long group to see everyone, you look around and see three and before that would have been alright but now you have to keep on looking! It’s not until you see all five you can relax”.

Are they feeling the pressure I asked finally, “I don’t think us riders feel the pressure but the management feel it. We just turn up, ride our bikes which we love doing. There’s five weeks to go but it’s nice to start with a win.”

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