News – Good debut for Lewis at Chorley

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Gruff Lewis made his Madison Genesis debut count as he finished seventh at round one of the 2016 National Road Series, the Chorley GP

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News – Good debut for Lewis at Chorley

Gruff Lewis made his Madison Genesis debut count as he joined the lead group and finished seventh at round one of the 2016 National Road Series, the Chorley GP.

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Lewis praised his teammates for giving him the confidence to record his best ever Premier Calendar result. “I knew I was going quite well, so the plan was for the guys to look after me if I could get over the main climb” Lewis said, speaking after the race. “Ahead of the race Matt and Tobyn were telling me I can do it and get up there – that gave me a lot of confidence on the road and once I saw I could follow the climbers, I knew I was on a good day.”

Lewis’ result was the reward of a race-long effort by the team to bring back a flurry of attacks, which began after the first breakaway was reeled in at around the halfway point of the 187-kilometre race. A group of four were allowed to form at the front, but Lewis infiltrated an 11-man chase group, that made contact and formed a 15-strong band on the fifth and final lap over Rivington.

The group was whittled down to eight riders as the race entered its definitive stages, but with NFTO making up half of the number it was their race to lose. Making their numerical advantage count in the closing stages, NFTO set Ed Bradbury up for a solo escape to win the race.

Despite being exposed in the closing stages, the team took plenty of positives from the performance and look forward to round two of the series in the Isle of Man. “At the end of the race, when NFTO held all the cards it was a case of closing things down until I ran out of legs really. Craig Wallace (Raleigh GAC) and I sat on the front trying to bring it back but ultimately we were outnumbered”.

“Obviously we have some riders at the Tour de Normandie at the moment but I think that today has given us the confidence that, once we have our full squad in place, we can be challenging for the win at one of these events.”

Result

1. Ed Bradbury (NFTO) 04:52.45
2. Dale Appleby (NFTO) +00:00.42
3. Dexter Gardias (Pedal Heaven) ST

—–
7. Gruff Lewis +00:01.33
22. Matt Holmes +00:04.43
27. Matt Cronshaw +00:06.11
35. Joe Evans +00:09.29
DNF Tobyn Horton

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