Team News: Success for Pedal Heaven

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Joe Fry claimed the UCI Continental outfit’s maiden victory at the top table of British domestic cycling when he landed the overall win at the Tour of the Reservoir

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Team News: Success for Pedal Heaven

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Joe Fry with two of the girls from the team all smiles after his surprise victory

Joe Fry claimed the UCI Continental outfit’s maiden victory at the top table of British domestic cycling when he landed the overall win at the Tour of the Reservoir on Sunday. Dexter Gardias, who was third in the opening round of the Motorpoint Spring Cup in Chorley last month, was runner-up to Madison Genesis star Erick Rowsell on the second stage.

The former ONE Pro Cycling man picked up the mountains prize for good measure before James Gullen rode away from the bunch to complete the podium places. Gardias, Jack Pullar and Gullen all finished inside the top 10 on general classification as Pedal Heaven capped a stunning weekend in Northumberland as the top team.

“It was amazing,” said 19-year-old Fry, whose triumph included third spot on stage one and sixth on stage two, in his post-race interview with velouk.net. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more. The team did a fantastic job in protecting me all day and it paid off completely. Everyone is over the moon.”

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Joe cannot believe it, he’s won the Tour of Reservoir!

JLT Condor’s Tom Moses led the race after victory on stage one but a superbly executed sprint finish saw Pedal Heaven and Fry distance their rivals and snatch the decisive seconds required to win the overall. Fry, who was making only his second appearance in a national road series event, added: “Wilko (Ian Wilkinson) went on the left-hand side of the road, Pullar followed and I followed him”.

“I just had to give it everything I could to stay with Pullar and he did an amazing job to take me to the line. It is a great boost to confidence and now hopefully we can build on it.”

Gardias, who also won the mountains classification at the Chorley Grand Prix, was part of the break on Sunday and was in with a shout of stage glory until a powerful finish from Rowsell. The runner-up said: “The KOM prize just happened really. No-one was too fussed about it, so I thought why not? At the end there, Erick went over the top of the climb and got one metre, then it was five and then that was it. He is a strong boy, so I had to sort of settle for doing what I could”.

“This is a great team. We have shown we have strength in depth. It is not just one of two guys, it seems everyone is going really well. We are all very motivated and it is just the vibe of the team. Everyone works well and works together. It was a great day.”

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Dexter Gardias leads the break chasing lone leader Ryan Perry of Metaltek Kuota

Gullen, meanwhile, produced another consistent performance as he backed up ninth place in Chorley and eighth at the Manx International with 10th spot on general classification. And the 26-year-old reckons the emphatic team display underlined why the team have been so unfortunate to miss out on a spot in the Tour de Yorkshire at the end of the month.

Gullen, who clipped off to reel in the remnants of the break and snatch third spot on Sunday, said: “It was good to open the legs up a bit and get away. We always thought the best-case scenario was Joe winning but honestly thought holding on to third in the overall would be a massive result for us. So for us to get the win and the team to finish so well on the stage, too, we couldn’t be happier really. It was brilliant.”

“We have not been selected for the Tour of Yorkshire, so while we always go out and do our best, it is nice to go out and prove a point.”

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Two in the top three on stage 2, James Gullen and Dexter Gardias with stage winner Erick Rowsell

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