Feature – Tour Series Hots Up

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Whilst the weather has been cold & wet, the race to be best team in the Pearl Izumi Tour Series is hotting up as Madison Genesis apply the pressure in Aberystwyth.

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Feature – Tour Series Hots Up

Whilst the weather has not been great, the battle between Madison Genesis and One Pro Cycling is getting decidedly hot in the race to be best team in the 2015 Pearl Izumi Tour Series.

In Aberystwyth, One Pro Cycling struck first in the hill climb, winning the race individually as well as the best team and then Madison Genesis hit back in the circuit race. The fact the leader’s jerseys are swapping back and forth shows just how much competition there is between the top teams for this classification.

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First to win on Friday was One Pro Cycling with George Harper (individual as well), George Atkins, Chris Opie, Yanto Barker and Jon Mould …

Current leaders are Madison Genesis who were third in the Hill Climb team competition and then won the circuit race to take back the leader’s jerseys off the backs of One Pro Cycling. Whilst Matt Cronshaw, Tom Stewart, Mike Northey and Tobyn Horton got stuck in, the fifth member of the team, Tom Scully came back from a crash to keep his team’s chances alive for the team victory.

After 20 minutes, all five Madison Genesis riders were safely in the reduced front group and with no other team with five at the front, Madison Genesis forced the pace with a view to secure the team victory on the night.

Ten minutes to go, the attention turned to the individual victory and after numerous attacks and crashes, four riders finally broke clear with Tobyn and Mike Northey for Madison Genesis in that selection. With Olympic Champion Ed Clancy there as well though the group didn’t work harmoniously and were caught as they entered the final lap.

Tom Stewart went for a long sprint but was narrowly beaten by double Olympic champion Ed Clancy (JLT Condor). Roger Hammond, Team Manager for Madison Genesis said afterwards “After a bit of disappointment in the hill climb, it was great to see the team come out fighting in the evening. They executed the plan to perfection which was really great to see.”

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… but Madison Genesis hit back five hours later as Tom Scully, Matt Cronshaw,  Tobyn Horton, Mike Northey and Tom Stewart applied the pressure and will take the leader’s jerseys to Motherwell in Scotland on Tuesday.,

But to emphasis how close the competition is for the team award, Madison Genesis hit back in the circuit race. One the five winning riders for Madison Genesis. Tobyn Horton,  gave a riders view of the race saying “it was a weird race, slippery and similar to last year where you had to take it easy in the corners. With five riders to count, it was a case of riding sensibly although it was when the bunch was riding sensibly that a few crashes happened”.

“We (Madison Genesis) were probably the most active early on and doing some damage. We could see One Pro were suffering so we kept applying the pressure. Then there was another crash when Ed, myself, Mike and Mouldy got away. Mouldy punched it and we kind of carried on riding and with two us in there, it was a good night for the team.”

“We were letting the team game take care of itself out there. We were trying to keep everyone together and knew we were all up there, so we just kept the pressure on and riding at the front. When the weather is like this (wet) you are working harder in 10th wheel than at the front.”

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Matt Cronshaw applying the pressure early on ahead of Morgan Keisky of Raleigh GAC

Asked about his form on the day, Tobyn explained “I was disappointed with my hill climb this morning, having an off ride so I was keen to get stuck in tonight. I was going well and enjoyed it”.

The race very quickly exploded and asked why he thought that was, Tobyn replied “Matt Cronshaw (Madison Genesis) put in a few big laps early on which split it and we were all up there doing laps. It was easy doing lap turns as hard as you can and that caused chaos behind. I think before the crashes, One Pro were missing one or two guys so we had them under pressure so we took it in turns to do laps.”

“The crashes were unfortunate and we lost Scud (Tom Scully) in one but he got back on with yet another herculean effort as always.”

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Having been an individual winner in the past in the Tour Series, I asked Tobyn what it felt like being up there as part of a team and he replied “it’s fantastic and is what we have been aiming for. We missed out on it last year and hopefully we can win”.

“You can’t get complacent though because as you’ve seen in one day, the team lead has changed twice. We are all motivated and good mates and that makes such a difference”.

Finally, asked about the sprint where Tobyn was 4th, he gave us his exclusive view of the action saying “Tom Stewart (Madison Genesis) hit out with a lap to go and the three of them got a gap with Mouldy (Jon Mould, One Pro Cycling)and Ed (Clancy, JLT Condor) and they were fighting for the last corner. I came round there fourth just behind. It was a case of who dared on that last corner as fast as possible when it was slippery”.

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