Team News – Downing 3rd in France

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Russell Downing of JLT Condor is third in Tour du Loir et Cher (France) and Tom Moses 4th in the Tour of Reservoir (England)

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Team News – Downing 3rd in France

JLT Condor presented by Mavic tackled an ambitious weekend of racing sending squads to race in France in the UCI Europe Tour as well as compete in British Cycling’s Spring Cup. The ‘Men in Black’ produced solid results and taking home stage wins in both Britain and on the continent.

Russell Downing on Podium - Loir et Cher
Credit: Angus Sung

Russell Downing secures 3rd overall in Tour du Loir et Cher and stage two sprint victory

Team captain, Russell Downing led by example last week during a five day race in France. Despite crashing heavily on the opening day. He rode himself into race form and took an impressive stage win on day two.

In challenging wet conditions he crossed the line several bike lengths ahead of the peloton. On subsequent stages he rode hard to protect his high overall placing taking a further 4th and 6th in bunch sprints and featuring in the break of the day on stage 4 to snatch value bonus seconds to keep him in contention for a podium place.

Scheduled as a build up race for the Tour de Yorkshire, the Tour du Loir et Cher has run ever year since the 1950s and takes place in the Loir department of central France. The five day race is part of the the UCI’s Europe Tour calendar and attracts several top flight teams and former World class champions.

“We’ve come away with a solid result, a stage win for Russell, a second place for Chris Lawless on day one.” explained Team Manager John Herety. “We used the race to work on our sprint tactics ahead of the Tour de Yorkshire, and to test the abilities of our young riders in the breakaways. Tour de Yorkshire is a world class event with a world class field and the racing in France has further bolstered our motivations to do well in the race at the end of the month.”

Tom Moses regain form and shines in the Spring Cup
Over the weekend, the Elite Men’s Natonal Series (Spring Cup) or Premier Calendar as it has been called for a good decade or more resumed with a two part race that featured a 145km stage on Saturday and 158km stage on Sunday in Durham, north-east England.

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Young rider, Tom Moses who has been off his bike due to illness took an emphatic victory on the opening day. In punishing conditions that included hail, sleet and freezing temperatures, Tom spent much of the race in a breakaway group. First riding in a trio that was caught before attacking the peloton and forcing another break with a four riders. The escapees worked well together forging ahead establishing a five minute lead to ensure they would not be caught by the chasing pack.

Speaking after the race, Moses said “It was pretty tough out there but it could have been a lot worse. We had hail and cold hands, when I got into the winning move straight after, I was hurting and I wasn’t confident that I could win today. I was surprised really. Coming into the finish nobody wanted to be at front so I thought I’ll try and get on the front and then jump. I just went as hard as I could and nobody came round me.”

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On day two and in the yellow leaders jersey, JLT Condor faced attacks from all sides. A large group of nine dipped away in the opening stages and the seven man team of JLT Condor rode on the front all stage to preserve Tom Moses’ lead. As JLT Condor’s relentless pace swept up some of the former breakaway riders, Joe Fry of British team Pedal Heaven attacked and gained enough seconds in the final kilometre to overhaul Moses and take the overall 2016 Tour of the Reservoir.

“Everyone worked so hard for Tom, the team were outnumbered by the break and of course, because we had the leader, it fell to us to work all day.” explained assistant Manager Dean Downing, “For nearly 100km in exposed conditions the boys kept the break at 1 minute and in our sights. It frustrating but Tom has ridden excellently. The riders rode as a tight knit team on day two. It all contributes to the build up to the Tour of Yorkshire.”

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